Srinagar, July 29 -- By Iqbal Ahmad

In 1808, Kashmir stood within an empire edging toward disintegration.

The Durrani dynasty, which had swallowed the valley in 1753 under Ahmad Shah Abdali, ruled from Kabul through a chain of governors who answered, in theory, to a sovereign hundreds of miles away.

Theory and practice diverged that year.

Ata Muhammad Khan, appointed governor by Shah Shuja in 1804, turned against the administration that had installed him and declared himself independent.

What he did next, at the Srinagar mint near Saraf Kadal, tells us something about power in Kashmir that outlasted his brief rebellion by more than two centuries.

He struck coins, and put no emperor's name on them.

That decision broke convention so ...