Jammu and Kashmir Rifles

Jammu & Kashmir Rifles
The Regimental Insignia of the Jammu & Kashmir Rifles
Active	1821–Present
Country	India
Branch	Indian Army
Type	Light Infantry
Role	Infantry
Size	19 battalions
Regimental Centre	Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh
Motto(s)	Prashata Ranvirta ("Valour in Battle is Praiseworthy")
War Cry	Durga Mata Ki Jai ("Victory to Goddess Durga")
Decorations	See below
Insignia
Regimental Insignia	An oval embracing the sun, the State emblem. The Sanskrit inscription around the sun, which cannot be read on the regimental insignia above, translates as, "Ever Victorious in War"

The Jammu & Kashmir Rifles is an infantry regiment of the Indian Army. The Jammu & Kashmir State Forces were the only former Princely State Forces of India to be absorbed into the Indian Army as a distinct and separate Regiment. In 1963, the designation was changed to Jammu & Kashmir Rifles. After the conversion, the Ladakh Scouts came under the aegis of the Regiment, where it remained until raised as a separate Regiment in 2002.

The Jammu & Kashmir Rifles has a unique regimental history. It was not raised by the British but by an intrepid Indian ruler called Gulab Singh in 1821. Gulab Singh was one of the ablest Generals of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and later became the ruler of the Jammu and Kashmir state.

The Sikhs ruled Kashmir until their defeat by the British. Thereafter, Maharaja Gulab Singh of Jammu paid Rs. 75 lakhs to the East India Company in 1846 in exchange for Kashmir and some other areas under a treaty later named as Treaty of Amritsar. Jammu and Kashmir as a single entity was unified and founded by Maharaja Gulab Singh on 16 March 1846. Zorawar Singh, a General in the Dogra Corps of the Khalsa Army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, later led daredevil campaigns in northern areas like Ladakh, Baltistan, Gilgit, Hunza and Yagistan, consolidating smaller principalities and making the northern areas a part of the expanding dominions of Maharaja Gulab Singh. Zorawar Singh mounted a breath-taking invasion of Tibet in 1841.

The Maharaja of Jammu & Kashmir maintained a larger number of State Forces than any other ruler of an Indian State under the British Raj. These forces were organized into the Jammu and Kashmir Brigades. They comprised one Bodyguard Cavalry regiment, two Mountain Batteries, seven active and one training battalions of Infantry and a Transport unit consisting of both pack and mechanized transport. Several of these units served with distinction on the North-West Frontier of India and overseas during the Great War. The state forces fought as Imperial Service Troops in both the First and Second World Wars (under their own native officers). They distinguished themselves in East Africa, Palestine and Burma.