Srinagar, March 19 (TIWN) Sporadic tension between the local Muslims and Kashmiri Pandits is traced back to the rule of the local king, Sultan Sikandar Shah, who ruled from 1389 to 1413.

He was known as 'Sikandar, the iconoclast'. His intolerance towards the local Hindus was maniacal. He would destroy temples and impose taxes on his Hindu subjects who shook when they heard of the Sultan's tours to their areas.

He abstained from wine, festivities and music. Sikandar is claimed to have met a prolonged and painful death, seemingly from elephantiasis in April 1413.

After his death, Sikandar's eldest son, Mir, was anointed as the Sultan, who adopted the title of Ali Shah. Two years later, Mir was succeeded by Shadi Khan, who adopted the name Zain-ul-Abidin.

He was the most benevolent Sultan Kashmir has ever seen. He restored all the temples destroyed by Sikandar and rehabilitated the local Hindus in whatever way he could. This magnanimity and tolerance earned him the name, 'Badshah'.

In modern times, tensions sporadically kept on erupting between the local Muslims and Hindus over administrative patronage of the latter by the Dogra Maharajas of the state.

Never during those sporadic flare-ups between the two communities did the ethos of 'Kashmiriyat' vanish. The vast majority of the local Muslims were tolerant and respectful towards the local Hindus as they were seen as more educated and worldly wise than their Muslim brethren.