JAMMU

FACTS & FIGURES
Area 20.36 sq km
Language Dogri, Hindi, English, Urdu, Kashmiri, Punjabi
Best time to visit Round the Year
STD Code 0191

LOCATION
Jammu is the second largest city of the northern Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir and is also its winter capital. Divided into two separate cities, the old town of Jammu is located on a hilltop overlooking the river Tawi while the new town is situated across the river, several kilometers away.

BEST TIME TO VISIT
Being near the Himalayas, the climate of the entire area is cold though

summers are markedly warm.
The temperatures range from 26.2°C to 4.3° C in winters and from 43.0°C to 23.4°C during summers. The recommended clothing for winters would be heavy/medium woolens while light cottons would be the best for summers in Jammu. Summers in Jammu are a sweltering, uncomfortable contrast to the cool climes of Kashmir. However, from October onwards, it becomes quite pleasant.

HISTORY
The city of Jammu is named after Jambu Lochan, the brother of Bahu, a powerful local chieftain who ruled during the ninth century. It is said that on becoming king, Jambu Lochan went on a hunt and, crossing the Tawi, found a deer and a tiger drinking water from the same tank. His ministers explained that this meant that the soil of the place was so virtuous that no living creature bore enmity against another. Raja Jambu Lochan, decided to build his capital, Jambupura, on this soil, on the right bank of the Tawi overlooking his brother king Bahu's fort. Jambupura later came to be known as Jammu.

Through the middle ages, Jammu prospered. Changes of rule at Delhi or Lahore passed over without disturbing the affluence of the town. The fertile cultivable land around the town constantly generated wealth and unlike many medieval towns, Jammu was never depopulated. The town was also a major stopover for caravans on the trade routes to Kashmir, Asia Minor and beyond and was a base for the fabled Silk Route.

The state of Jammu & Kashmir, which was earlier under the rule of Hindus and Muslims, came under the rule of Mughals under emperor Akbar. After the period of Afghan rule from 1756, it was annexed to the Sikh kingdom of the Punjab in 1819. In 1846, Ranjit Singh made over the territory of Jammu to Maharaja Gulab Singh and Jammu and Kashmir came into being as a single political and geographical entity following the Treaty of Amritsar between the British Government and Gulab Singh signed on March 16, 1846.

Since then, the state remained under the Dogra rule till the time India gained independence. At the time of independence, like all the state, Jammu and Kashmir was also given the option of either joining India or Pakistan. However, the then ruler, Maharaja Hari Singh decided not to exercise the option immediately but had to sign the instrument of accession when Pakistan attacked the territory later the same year.