Kangra State

{{see also|Kangra Fort|History of the Punjab}}

The first modern recorded mention of the state, however, is from the 11th century AD.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}} The Katoch dynasty are reputed to have ruled the town of Kangra and its vicinity since time immemorial.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}} Several very extended interregnums are acknowledged.

At least three rulers sought to conquer the Kangra fort and plundered the treasures of its temples: Mahmud Ghazni in 1009, Firuz Shah Tughluq in 1360 and Sher Shah in 1540.{{Cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Bs_DQAAQBAJ&q=kangra+fort+akbar&pg=PA37| title=Everyday Creativity: Singing Goddesses in the Himalayan Foothills| isbn=9780226407562| last1=Narayan| first1=Kirin| date=22 November 2016| publisher=University of Chicago Press| access-date=12 December 2020| archive-date=1 May 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210501153902/https://books.google.com/books?id=7Bs_DQAAQBAJ&q=kangra%20fort%20akbar&pg=PA37| url-status=live}} During Prithvi Chand II's reign in 1333, he defeated the army of Muhammad bin Tughluq which was not able to fight in the hills.Chandra, Satish (1997). Medieval India: From Sultanate to the Mughals. New Delhi, India: Har-Anand Publications. pp. 101–102. {{ISBN|978-8124105221}}. In 1428, it was site of a fierce battle between Raja Jasrat, who had conquered most of Punjab from Delhi Sultans, and Delhi general Sikander Tohfa. Jasrat was defeated and forced to retreat.{{Cite journal |author-link=K. S. Lal |last=Lal |first=K. S. |date=1958 |title=Jasrat Khokhar |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44145212 |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |volume=21 |pages=274–281 |jstor=44145212 |issn=2249-1937 |access-date=11 January 2024 |archive-date=7 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240107184433/https://www.jstor.org/stable/44145212 |url-status=live }}

The fort of Kangra resisted Mughal Emperor Akbar's siege.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}} Akbar's son Jahangir successfully subdued the fort in 1620 annexing the surrounding area and reducing the Katoch rajas to the status of vassals.{{Cite book |last=Sen |first=Sailendra |title=A Textbook of Medieval Indian History |publisher=Primus Books |year=2013 |isbn=978-9-38060-734-4 |pages=165–166}}{{citation |last=Parry |first=Jonathan P. |title=Caste and Kinship in Kangra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MabdAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA11 |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-54585-6|pages=11–13}} Kangra was at the time ruled by Raja Hari Chand Katoch of Kangra (also known as Raja Hari Chand II).{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

Jahangir with the help of Suraj Mal, the Maharaja of Bharatpur, garrisoned with his troops.{{Cite book |last1=Hutchison |first1=John |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofpanjabh0000hutc_e9d0 |title=History of the Panjab Hill States |last2=Vogel |first2=Jean Philippe |publisher=Superintendent of Government Printing, Punjab |year=1933 |isbn=978-81-206-0942-6 |volume=1 |location=Lahore |pages=146–155}} Under Jahangir, Murtaza Khan the governor of Punjab was directed to conquer Kangra, but he failed on account of the jealousy and opposition of the Rajput chiefs who were associated with him.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}} Then Prince Khurram was put in charge of the command.{{Cite book |last1=Hutchison |first1=John |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofpanjabh0000hutc_e9d0 |title=History of the Panjab Hill States |last2=Vogel |first2=Jean Philippe |publisher=Superintendent of Government Printing, Punjab |year=1933 |isbn=978-81-206-0942-6 |volume=1 |location=Lahore |pages=155–165}} The siege of Kangra was pushed on for weeks.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}} Supplies were cut off and the garrison had to live on boiled dry grass.{{Cite book |last1=Hutchison |first1=John |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofpanjabh0000hutc_e9d0 |title=History of the Panjab Hill States |last2=Vogel |first2=Jean Philippe |publisher=Superintendent of Government Printing, Punjab |year=1933 |isbn=978-81-206-0942-6 |volume=1 |location=Lahore |pages=165–170}} It was faced with death and starvation. After a siege of 14 months, the fort surrendered in November, 1620. In 1621, Jahangir visited it and ordered the slaughter of a bullock there.{{Cite web|url = http://www.preservearticles.com/2012031026090/jahangirs-conquest-of-kangra-and-kistwar.html|title = Jahangir's Conquest of Kangra and Kistwar|date = 10 March 2012|access-date = 23 July 2020|archive-date = 4 February 2019|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190204043456/http://www.preservearticles.com/2012031026090/jahangirs-conquest-of-kangra-and-kistwar.html|url-status = dead}} A mosque was also built within the fort of Kangra.{{cite episode |title=Kangra |number=7 |series=Ekaant |language= hi |season=2 |network=EPIC |date=2015 }}

The Katoch Kings repeatedly looted Mughal controlled regions, weakening the Mughal control, aiding in the decline of Mughal power, Raja Sansar Chand II succeeded in recovering the ancient fort of his ancestors, in 1789.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

As the Mughal power waned, many former officers of the Mughal empire took autonomous charge of the areas under their power and this situation affected Kangra.{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.ministry.08590 |title=Punjab District Gazetteers volume VII part a Kangra District, 1924-25 with map |publisher=Superintendent, Government Press, Punjab |year=1926 |editor-last=Vasudev |editor-first=Arjun Das |location=Lahore |pages=69–74}} Meanwhile, (in 1758), Ghamand Chand, a supposed scion of the dispossessed family, attained a position of power in the Punjab plains, being appointed governor of Jalandhar by Ahmed Shah Abdali.

Building upon this ascendency, Ghamand Chand's grandson Sansar Chand rallied an army, ousted the then ruler of Kangra, Saif Ali Khan, and gained possession of his patrimony. This happened in 1783, and Sansar Chand was aided by the Kanhaiya misl, one of several Sikh principalities that ruled the Punjab region in that era. During the campaign, Raja Sansar Chand and his mercenary force overran other nearby principalities and compelled the submission of their rulers. He reigned over a relatively large part of present-day Himachal Pradesh for perhaps two decades, but his ambitions brought him into conflict with the Gorkha dynasty ruling the then nascent state of Nepal.

The Gorkhas and the recently humbled hill-states allied to invade Kangra in 1806.{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.ministry.08590 |title=Punjab District Gazetteers volume VII part a Kangra District, 1924-25 with map |publisher=Superintendent, Government Press, Punjab |year=1926 |editor-last=Vasudev |editor-first=Arjun Das |location=Lahore |pages=74–76}} The Raja was defeated and left with no territory beyond the immediate vicinity of the fortress of Kangra, which he managed to retain with the help of a small force sent from the Sikh Empire by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. In this despair, the Sansar Chand treated with Ranjit Singh at Jawalamukhi in 1809. By that treaty, Raja Sansar Chand surrendered his (now largely notional) state to Maharaja Ranjit Singh, in return for a substantial fief to be held under the suzerainty of the latter. This estate consisted, in 1947, of 20 villages yielding a revenue of Rs. 40,000/- and encompassing an area of 324 km². Maharaja Ranjit Singh duly established his rule over the land; Raja Sansar Chand received in addition the estate of Lambagraon.

As a result of the First Anglo-Sikh War (1846), the area between the Sutlej and Ravi rivers, including the hill states, were ceded by the Sikhs to the British East India Company. Thus, Lambagraon estate was annexed by the British and was one of the feudatory estates placed under the Simla Hill States' Superintendency.{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.ministry.08590 |title=Punjab District Gazetteers volume VII part a Kangra District, 1924-25 with map |publisher=Superintendent, Government Press, Punjab |year=1926 |editor-last=Vasudev |editor-first=Arjun Das |location=Lahore |pages=187–188}} In deference with the ruling dynasty's association with Kangra town (and given the fact that the estate fell within Kangra district) the estate was referred to as "Kangra-Lambagraon".

The princely estate of Kangra-Lambagraon acceded unto the Dominion of India in 1947; the following year, it was merged with its sister states of the erstwhile Simla superintendency to create a province named Himachal Pradesh, administered by a Chief Commissioner.{{Cite web |title=History: Post Independence Period |url=https://himachal.nic.in/en-IN/post-independence-period.html |access-date=16 August 2024 |website=Himachal Pradesh}}

• History of Himachal Pradesh
• Kangra district
• Kangra painting
• Trigarta

{{reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20170329030427/http://www.world66.com/asia/southasia/india/himachalpradesh/dharamsala History of Kangra] (archived 29 March 2017)
• [http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20091104/himplus.htm#8 Katoch Dynasty – Oldest ruling dynasty of the world]

{{History HP}}

{{Princely states of the Punjab and Simla Hills}}

{{Princely states annexed by British India}}

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Category:Princely states of Himachal Pradesh

Category:Quasi-princely estates of India

Category:Kangra, Himachal Pradesh

Category:1947 disestablishments in India

Category:States and territories disestablished in 1947

Category:Former monarchies of Asia

Category:Rajput history