[1][2] One of the very few Kashmiri Pandits to ever hold that post, Kak had the intractable job of navigating the troubled waters of the transfer of power from British Raj to the independent dominions of India and Pakistan.

[3] Kak was appointed the prime minister of Jammu and Kashmir from June 1945 until 11 August 1947, during the key transitional period when the British were preparing for departure from India.

[6] In 1946, as the National Conference (NC) began the Quit Kashmir movement against the Maharaja, Kak declared martial law and had all leaders arrested on 20 May.

[8][9][b] Kak, in an unpublished memoir on the accession-disputes, claims to have been ill-disposed to these pleas because the Indian National Congress (INC) had lent its "great weight of authority" to Abdullah's misplaced agitation; INC is castigated for publishing "highly coloured, inaccurate and vituperative statements" and passing resolutions against Singh's government.

[d] Patel took offence at what he called the "cold, official touch-me-not attitude" and rejected supporting any plan involving complete independence for Kashmir.

[12] Jinnah, coordinating the accession of princely states to Pakistan, promised lucrative terms on an immediate deal but Kak stood by his earlier position.

General Henry Scott, the Chief of Staff of State Forces, in his last report opined that Kak favored independence but closer ties with Pakistan.

[17][h] However, the Maharaja —who was increasingly against joining Pakistan due to a variety of reasons[i] and trying to repair relationships with INC— is believed to have already decided, a few weeks earlier, to dismiss Kak for being an impediment to the process, and declare general amnesty to political prisoners.

[18] Kak was dismissed as Prime Minister on 11 August 1947 and put under house arrest; he was replaced with a retired army officer Janak Singh.

[15] According to Henry Lawrence Scott, the Maharaja acted under influence of the Deputy Prime Minister M L. Batra, a Hindu swami, and the Maharani's brother Nachint Chand, all of whom wanted Kashmir to join India at the earliest.

[22] In 1959, the Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court —Syed Murtaza Fazl Ali— voided the externment order upon an appeal from Kak but rejected his petition to be paid due pension.

[3] Ram Chandra Kak was in possession of the two complete Sharada script copies of the Nilamata Purana, when a critical edition was being prepared by K. de Vreese.

[29] The book focused on the destruction of temples by Muslim rulers to such an extent, that he was compelled by the publisher to expunge certain "irrelevant" passages lest communal harmony was affected;[k] a chapter on political history of Kashmir portrayed the centuries of Islamic rule as "one of unmitigated plunder, barbarism, and iconoclasm.

"[30] Historian Mridu Rai notes his work to fit into the usual scheme of the State Archaeological Department in privileging Hindus over the Muslims by various direct and indirect means; Ananya Jahanara Kabir reiterates such observations.