SHANKARVARMAN (883-902 A.D)

The death of Avativarman in 883 A.D. was followed by war of succession among the relatives of the deceased king, but Shankaravarman, the son of late king, with the help of Ratnawardhana defeated them all and ascended the throne of Kashmir with all his valour and vigour.

Unlike his father, he incurred huge expenditure on making conquests and invaded neighbouring states of Rajouri, Gujrat, Kangra, and Hazar. Theses unfruitful conquests heavily told upon the State exchequer and, in order to meet out the deficit, the king imposed taxes on his subjects. He took away the wealth from temples and introduced the system of forced labour (Begar) and thereby spelled miseries particularly on the villagers. To adorn his newly founded city of Sankarpora, he robbed Parihaspura of its embellishments. Finally the rule came to an end when the king died during an expedition to Hazara.