ABSTRACT
While delineating the political trajectory of the Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh regions, this chapter argues that religion has informed the political discourse of the three regions in different ways. It is argued that the relationship between state and religion has various dimensions as illustrated by the role of religion, as it has interacted with nationalism, in shaping the politics of the deeply plural Jammu and Kashmir region, ever since it was formed in 1846. Religion has shaped the national imagination of the three regions but has also led to a widening regional divide between Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh.
