SA Travel Diaries : Kangra Fort and Museum by Gauri Singh

The Kangra Fort

My first trip to Mcleodganj and Dharamshala, Kangra was so unplanned that I hardly knew anything about the places except for the fact that it was one of the most serene hill stations of country.

En route, on the outskirts of Dharamshala, I noticed on a hill, some huge walls and buildings which seemed quite old in structure. An exclusive route leading to it had a signboard of ‘The Kangra Fort, 4 km’. Three days later, we were driving to the place.

Gauri Singh is a Member of Citizen Archaeology Wing
since June 2016

We first arrived at the Kangra Fort Museum and Art Gallery. It was a small place but a treasure house of a forgotten period in the Indian history. The erstwhile Royal Family of Kangra has dedicated their Museum to honour Maharaja Sansar Chand, their ancestor whose reign was known as the Golden Age of Kangra. Maharaja Sansar Chand inherited the throne of Kangra, when he was just 10 years old. By the age of 21, he had defeated the Mughals and had won back his ancestral fort of Kangra. True to the saying “He who holds the Fort rules the hills”. With the young Maharaja, ushered in an age of prosperity and the Indian Renaissance of paintings. The period 1786-1805 was the Golden Age of Kangra. Maharaja Sansar Chand established law and order in his vast empire, at its peak it his empire stretched from Lahaul-Spiti to the plains of Hoshiarpur.

The off season proved lucky for me as the humble manager became my guide. He narrated to me the story  of the Rajputs of Katoch dynasty. It is said to be founded by Rajanaka Bhumi Chand in 4300 BCE. Legend has it that Goddess Ambika once fought with a ferocious demon where in the long and hard battle, a drop of the goddess’s sweat fell on Earth. From this emerged Bhumi Chand of the Chandravansh, who helped her defeat the demon. The goddess then blessed him and gave the kingdom of Trigarta, located between the three rivers – Sutlej, Beas and Ravi. The old town of Kangra and the Fort came into existence in post-Mahabharata period under Maharaja Susharma Chand(an ally of  Kaurava). After the defeat of Kauravas, Susharma Chand came to Kangra along with his soldiers, took Trigarta under his control and built the fort to protect his kingdom. Trigarta has been mentioned in a few chapters in the Mahabharata. Alexander the Great's war records mentions about Kangra Fort and Chinese traveller Xuan Zang’s descriptions attest to the dynasty's lineage.

A chart showing the complete Katoch dynasty has been displayed with pictures at the entrance of the museum. Surprising as it sounds but yes, this is the only ruling dynasty in India that has a record of all its kings till date. Inside, there were small sections of collections. The very central place displayed the silver low throne of Maharaja, 2 rest chairs on each side and a small white marble fountain. We started from the collection of antique crockery - silverware, crystalware, gem-studded glasses, delicate indigo pottery and a few age old hookahs. The next section was of coins - samples from Medieval period to the British period accompanied by a some written texts.

The Museum, next, exhibited Royal clothes, textiles made of gold and silver thread, uniforms from the British period all from the royal family’s personal collection. Some of the costume had been worn by the family themselves. One of the piece was a shawl presented to the family by the Emperor Jahangir himself - a red shawl with paisley motifs.

This was followed by a small area of ‘Maharani’s Bedroom’, the silver furniture used by H.H Rajmata Shailendra Kumari, a princess of Tehri-Garhwal, was on display. In the Armoury, various kinds of weapons used from the time of Maharaja Sansar Chand to his great-great-great grandson H.H Maharaja Jai Chand were neatly arranged. There were metal armours, shields, swords and knives of different types, telescopes, and guns of 19th century. On the pillars hung the portraits of rulers of Katoch dynasty. From the roof of the museum, the view of the whole fort and its gardens were best seen.

The Jahangiri Darwaza

Then we drove to the fort.  It was located on the top of a hill at the confluence of Banganga and Patal Ganga river (also known as the Majhi). The walkway was lead through a path with vast gardens on both sides. The  Darwazas were a key feature. Access to the fort is gained from the Ranjit Singh Darwaza. Through the Ahni and Amiri Darwaza, the steps led to the Jahangiri Darwaza. The construction of the former two darwaza are attributed to the first Mughal governor of Kangra, Nawab Alif Khan. From the Jahangiri Darwaza, a path led to the Andheri Darwaza. From here, the path divided itself into two. The one leading to the left reached the Darshani Darwaza, flanked by defaced statues of the River Goddesses Ganga and Yamuna giving access to a spacious courtyard - one of the oldest structures in the fort. North, of this courtyard, there were broken chambers, a few installed with grills.

Temple Ruins, the victims of 1905 Earthquake

There was the Lakshmi Narayan Temple and the Sitlamata Temple on the other end of the Darshani Darwaza. Unfortunately, the earthquake of 1905 had caused much damage to the temples yet they retain the much of the exquisite carvings. The details on the rock ceilings of the Laxmi Narayan Temple were the most striking. North of these temples was the Ambika Devi Temple which is still worshipped. There were also two small Jain temples in a broken state. One of them had a seated image of Lord Adinath with an unclear inscription dating to 1523 AD while the other only had a pedestal. A staircase between the former two temples led to the main palace - Sheesh Mahal. But the palace is nothing like its name as it has broken steps leading to shattered rooms and sections of the fort. The mahal suffered the maximum damage as it remains like block of stone with a big terrace on the edge of which is a polygonal watchtower. This watchtower provides the most stunning views of the surrounding valley and Dhauladhar peaks.

There is also a mosque of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir’s era in the fort, hidden behind thick foliage. The other route from the Andheri Darwaza leads to it. Nearby, there is a stone stepwell- Kapoor Sagar.

The Kangra Fort is the largest fort in the Himalayas and probably the oldest dated fort in India. Likewise  it has a rich history of conquests and defeat.

The fort housed the Brijeshwari temple and thus saw an inflow of devotees, donations and valuable gifts. It was assumed that this fort held enormous treasures making it an obvious target for other rulers and foreign invaders. The first ruler to attack the fort was Raja Shreshta of Kashmir in 470 AD. The first foreign invasion on the fort was by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1009 AD. It was estimated that he looted 7 lakh gold coins, 28 tonne utensils made of gold and silver and 8 tonnes of diamond and pearls.

The next two attack on the fort were made by Muhammad Tughlaq in 1337 and Feroze Shah in 1357. A brief peace was followed by an attack coming from Khan Jahan, a commander of Sher Shah Suri in the year 1540. After 52 failed attempts to recover the fort from the Turks by Akbar in 1615, it was finally captured by Jahangir in 1620. In 1758, Ghamand Chand, a successor of the Katochs, was appointed the governor of Jalandhar by Ahmed Shah Abdali. His grandson Sansar Chand after strengthening his forces  finally defeated the ruler Saif Ali Khan and recovered the throne of his ancestors in 1789. Sansar Chand proved himself to be a powerful ruler and annexed many kingdoms of the neighbouring regions. The defeated kings then went to ask help from the Gurkha commander Amar Singh Thapa. The Gurkha troops invaded the Fort and captured it. Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured it in 1809 and finally in 1846, the Kangra fort fell into the hands of the British power.

The history of Kangra Fort is smeared with wars, blood, deceit and loots. But the walls of this ancient Fort stood strong and tall until it succumbed to devastating earthquake on April 4th, 1905. As of today, the fort is the property of the Archaeological Survey of India.