City or fort

Kangra Fort

ਕਾਂਗੜਾقلعہ کانگڑا

Ancient hill fort of the Katoch rajas. Ranjit Singh took it in 1809 after relieving Raja Sansar Chand from a Gurkha siege.

Kangra Fort, on a cliff above the Banganga and Patalganga rivers in the Kangra valley, is one of the oldest forts in India, the seat of the Katoch rajas for centuries. Mahmud of Ghazni plundered its temple in 1009; the Mughals took it in 1620.

In 1806 Raja Sansar Chand Katoch, besieged by the Gurkhas, asked Ranjit Singh for help. The Sikhs relieved the fort in 1809 and kept it. Desa Singh Majithia became governor of the hills.

The painters of Kangra and Guler, who had made the valley famous for its miniature painting, now found patrons in Lahore. The fort was badly damaged in the earthquake of 1905.

Kangra Fort, Himachal Pradesh

People

Diwan Mokham Chandc. 1750 – 1814

Ranjit Singh's leading general in the early conquests, victor over the Afghans at Attock in 1813.

Battles

1696Kangra FortBattle of GulerSikhs with the Raja of GulervsMughal commander Husain KhanAllied victory; Husain Khan killed

Artifacts

Pahari painting at the Sikh courtsc. 1800 – 1850

When Ranjit Singh took Kangra in 1809, painters from the hill courts of Guler and Kangra came to work for Sikh patrons, painting portraits of the Gurus and the Lahore nobility.

The Masrur rock-cut temples8th century

A whole complex of Hindu temples carved out of a single sandstone ridge in the Kangra hills.

The Baijnath temple1204

A temple of Shiva as the lord of physicians, built by two merchants in 1204 and still in worship.

The paintings of Nainsukh of Gulerc. 1740 – 1778

Intimate pictures of the life of Raja Balwant Singh of Jasrota by the greatest of the Pahari painters.

Chamba rumals18th – 19th century

Square cloths for covering gifts, embroidered in the hills with scenes from the life of Krishna in the style of Pahari painting.

The Kangra Gita Govindac. 1775 – 1780

A series of paintings of Jayadeva's love poem of Radha and Krishna, made by the painters of the family of Nainsukh and Manaku in the years when Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra was their great patron.