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Hari Singh was the last maharaja of the kingdom of Jammu and Kashmir. His great-grandfather, Gulab Singh, was a Hindu general in the army of the Sikh Raja Ranjit Singh. Pleased with Gulab Singh's services, Ranjit Singh made him the governor of Jammu, and later made him king of the territory. When Ranjit Singh's successors lost the Second Anglo-Sikh War to the British, the British sold Kashmir to Gulab Singh for 75 lakh rupees to pay their war debts. Ladakh and Gilgit were added to the kingdom by conquest. In 1947, Hari Singh chose to accede his kingdom to India, although a majority of the kingdom's population was Muslim. Pakistan and India fought several wars over possession of the state.
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