From the very beginning of his rule, in 1840s Maharajah Gulab Singh imposed a body of the harshest regulations upon the people of Kashmir and reduced them in effect to a state of humiliating bondage. Even grass, growing free, on which the people were wont to pasture their cattle was subjected to a heavy tax. Within a year of the Treaty of 1848, Lord Lawrence, the then Viceroy addressed a severe remonstrance but without any effect. Kashmiri Muslim identity in twentieth century was most significantly influenced by the Ahmadiyya ideology. Ahmadis belonging to Lahore faction of the movement were very active in educational and political awakening of Kashmiri Muslims throughout 1920, 1930s and 1940s. Abdulla Vakil and Nooruddin Qari Kashmiri were instrumental in propagating Islamic literature among the Muslim population of the state which included religious folk poetry and more complex religious discourses. This revival of Muslim identity was of great concern to the ruling elite in Kashmir.