Well, mzybe not so cool: Sanskrit script?

[Walter Slaje]

Allen,

>  But to read those published in the north of British India one would have 
> to know the Nagari or Bengali script.

There are plenty of Kashmirian mss of that time, which were copied from 
Nagari mss or demonstrably transcribed from Sharada exemplars, although 
Sharada did not entirely fall into desuetude. Occasionally, Nagari mss were 
even copied from printed books, which strengthens your point. In any case we 
must however assume a general turn in writing towards Nagari irrespective of 
book printing.

> Does anyone know if the habit of spending the winter in the plains or in 
> Jammu was already established before the Dogra Raj?

The most detailed accounts of Ranjit Singh's (Sikh) rule predating the 
Dogras I am aware of are the voluminous contemporary travel reports by 
William Moorcroft, Johann Martin Honigberger, Baron von Huegel, and Godfrey 
Thomas Vigne. They are likely to provide useful information in this regard.

Walter

------------------------------
Prof. Dr. Walter Slaje
Hermann-Löns-Str. 1
D-99425 Weimar
(Germany)
www.indologie.uni-halle.de

Ego ex animi mei sententia spondeo ac polliceor
studia humanitatis impigro labore culturum et provecturum
non sordidi lucri causa nec ad vanam captandam gloriam,
sed quo magis veritas propagetur et lux eius, qua salus
humani generis continetur, clarius effulgeat.
Vindobonae, die XXI. mensis Novembris MCMLXXXIII.