Jammu District

Jammu is the second largest city in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. It's 580 km from Delhi and 290 km from Srinagar on the south-eastern slopes of the Siwalik Range.  Jammu is perched on a hilltop beside the Tawi River. 

A new town sprawls away from the hillside and extends for some distance across the other side of the river. In winter Jammu become the headquarters of the Jammu & Kashmir administration (as it has done since the time of the Dogra rulers) and many Kashmiris move there then because the temperature does not drop below 5oC. Summer can be uncomfortably hot (over 40oC) due to the city's low altitude (300 meters), and humid, unpleasant conditions also bring on plagues of gnats.
You can hear Urdu, Punjabi, English, Kashmiri, Hindi and Dogri spoken in Jammu.  Despite its mix of cultures, languages and religions the city is not of great interest to tourists.   Most travellers tend to use it as an overnight stop on the way to Kashmir.  Unless you fly you will almost certainly pass through Jammu on your way to Kashmir.       
Legend has it that the city was founded by Jamboo Loochen about three thousand years ago.  The Raja was hunting in the area, away from his capital city of Bahu, when he came across a lion and a goat drinking from the same pound.  The Shivadawala Shrine now stands on this spot in the city.  Jammu is known as 'the city of temples' because of its many shrines with soaring golden shikhars, or spires. The recorded history of Jammu begins from the time of the Dogra rulers in the early 19th century, although there are many other shrines and temples in and around the city that date from earlier years.
In 1846, at the conclusion of the First Siks war, the treaties of Lahore and Amritsar resulted in the Dogra ruler of Jammu being made Maharaja of an ill-defined Himalayan Kingdom, eastward of the river Indus and westward of the river Ravi.'
The British created this Kingdom as part of a complex political buffer zone between their Indian Empire and China and Russia.  It was the lack of definition of these states - the forerunner of Jammu and Kashhmir - that caused the continuing disputes with Russia and China over territory.     

For the Maharaja Gulab Sing, the appointed head of the state, the treaty concluded almost 25 years of fighting and negotiation with the small hill tribes along the northern border of the Sikh empire, centred on the Punjab.  The region remained under Dogra rule until the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 when Hari Singh, the then Maharaja of Kashmir, and the state of Jammu and Kashmir was bornin 1947.
Historical Placesand Monuments
Bahu Fort
It is a renowned historical temple of Goddess Mahakali popularily known as Bawe-Wali Mata. The fort overlooks the river Tawi flowing placidly down the Jammu City.
Mubarak Mandi Complex
The complex is housing 76 government offices and courts. The complex has a history as old as 150 years back. It was a royal residence of Dogra rulers. The palaces are built as a group of buildings around the courtyard. Successive Dogra rulers added to the complex in size. The buildings were used as the residences of the royal Dogra families. The complex has halls and galleries which were used for official functionsand public events.
Amar Mahal Museum
Amar Mahal Museum is a beautiful palace of red sand stone which stands amidst most picturesque horizons of Jammu. Once the residential palace of Raja Amar Singh, the palace has been converted into a museum and is looked after by Hari-Tara Charitable trust. The museum still has the golden throne on which Maharaja used to sit, which is made up of 120 Kg pure. The museum has a gallery of paintings known as the NALDAMYANT and a library in which about 25,000 books on various subjects and disciplines have been presented.
Dogra Art Museum
It is presently located in the Pink Hall of Mubarak Mandi Complex. The Museum houses about 800 rare and exuisite paintings from different schools of paintings-viz. Basholi, Jammu and Kangra. Gold painted bow and arrow of Mughal Emperor Shahjehan and a number of carpentary tools also make an important section of the museum. The museum also has hand written manuscripts of Shahnama and Sikandernama both in Persian.  

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