Yusuf Shah Chak was exiled to Bihar, where he was detained under the charge of Man Singh, the governor. A Year or so later, Yusuf Shah Chak was appointed to the ‘command of 500, ‘ a rank carrying a salary ranging from 2,100 to 2,500 rupees a month and a grant in Bihar. Although this appointment was far from being commensurate to the dignity of a deposed sovereign, Yet Yusuf Shah served in that capacity under Man Singh for several years. The time and manner of his death do not appear to be recorded by Akbar’s historians. But Haider Malik Chadura says that Yusuf died in Hindustan on account of acute insanity and deep melancholia, separated, as he was, from his own land, from his own kingdom, and from his own accomplished Queen Habba Khatun.
The treatment of the ex-ruler of Kashmir cannot be described, in the words of Dr. V. A. Smith, as generous. In fact, it is one of the chief blots on Akbar’s character. Abu’l Fazl says that Akbar’s appointment of Yusuf Shah was to test his fitnesss for restoration to Kashmir. But there is no evidence that Akbar ever proposed to make amends for the wrong which he had done to Yusuf Shah Chak – that Yusuf who disposed of Sher Afgan for Jahangir and corrected Akbar’s great singer Miyan Tan Sen, according to the testimony of Malik Haider Chadura .
It is believed in Kashmir that Akbar caused a change to be effected in the dress of the people, and the effeminate Pheran (from the persian pairahan, the long, loose shirt) was thus introduced together with the Kangri, or, in, Kashmiri, Kangar, the chafing vessel. “And it is possible,” says Lieutenant Newall, “that this measure, one out of a long series of acts of systematic tyranny and spirit breaking oppression, may have had its effect in changing the character of this once brave and warlike race.” such a belief, however, lacks authority.
Reference:
Sufi,G.M.D (1996). Kashmir Under The Mughals. Kashir: Being A History Of Kashmir(pp.243-244) Delhi:Capital Publishing House.
