Bot at 06:06, 1 December 2022

2022-12-01T06:06:34Z

New page

{{Short description|Fort in Himachal Padesh, India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}}
{{Use Indian English|date=February 2017}}
{{coords|32|05|17.1|N|76|15|28|E|display=title}}
{{Infobox military installation
| name = Kangra Fort
| native_name =
| partof = [[Himachal Pradesh]]
| location = [[Kangra, Himachal Pradesh|Kangra]], [[Himachal Pradesh]], [[India]]
| image = Kangra Fort ,Himachal Pradesh 06.jpg
| caption = Kangra Fort
| map_type =
| map_size = 280
| map_caption =
| type = [[Fort]]
| coordinates =
| code =
| built =
| builder = [[Rajput]] family of [[Kangra State]] (the [[Katoch dynasty]])
| materials =
| height =
| used =
| demolished =
| condition = [[Ruins]]
| open_to_public =
| controlledby = [[Kangra State]]
| garrison =
| current_commander =
| commanders =
| occupants =
| battles =
| events =
}}
The '''Kangra Fort''' is located 20 kilometers from the town of [[Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh|Dharamsala]] on the outskirts of the town of [[Kangra, Himachal Pradesh|Kangra]], [[India]].

==History==
[[File:Jullunder Doab Kote Kangra..jpg|thumb|Kangra fort in 1847, by [[Charles Stewart Hardinge|Charles Hardinge]]]]

Raja Dharam Chand submitted to the Mughal Ruler Akbar in 1556 and agreed to pay tribute, including, renouncing claims to the fort. But in 1620, Emperor Jahangir, killed that Katoch king, Raja Hari Chand and annexed the Kangra kingdom into the Mughal Empire.<ref name="sen2">{{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}}</ref> Under the leadership of Nawab Ali Khan and aided by Raja Jagat Singh, the fort was captured in 1620 and under Mughal rule until 1783. In 1621, Jahangir visited it and ordered the slaughter of a bullock there.<ref>{{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 }}</ref> A mosque was also built within the fort of Kangra.<ref>{{cite episode |title=Kangra |number=7 |series=Ekaant |language= hi |season=2 |network=[[Epic (TV channel)|EPIC]] |date=2015 }}</ref>

As the Mughal empire began to crumble, a descendant of Raja Dharam Chand, [[Raja Sansar Chand]] Bahadur II began a series of conquests of Kangra with the support of Sikh leader, Jai Singh Kanhaiya of the [[Kanhaiya]] misl. However, after the death of Mughal governor Saif Ali Khan, the fort was surrendered in 1783 by his son to the Sikh leader, [[Jai Singh Kanhaiya]] of the [[Kanhaiya]] Misl in return for safe passage. This betrayal by Jai Singh Kanhaiya led to Raja Sansar Chand soliciting the services of Sikh misaldars [[Maha Singh]] of the [[Sukerchakia Misl]] (father of Maharaja [[Ranjit Singh]]) and [[Jassa Singh Ramgarhia]] and besieged the fort. In 1786, [[Raja Sansar Chand]] gained Kangra fort by peaceful treaty with Jai Singh Kanhaiya in return for territorial concessions in the Punjab.

Sansar Chand quickly focused on expanding his kingdom and conquered the nearby kingdoms of [[Chamba State|Chamba]], Mandi, Suket and Nahan. In 1805 he turned his attention to Bilaspur and the then Raja of Bilaspur called on the aid of the powerful [[Kingdom of Nepal|Gurkha]] kingdom, who had already acquired [[Garhwal Kingdom|Garhwal]], [[Sirmur State|Sirmour]] and other small hill states of [[Shimla]]. An army of 40,000 [[Gurkha|Gurkhas]] responded by crossing the Sutlej river and quickly captured fort after fort. In 1808, the Gorkhas struck a decisive blow and captured the fort of Pathiyar (Palampur).

By 1809, Kangra itself was under direct threat from the Gurkhas and Sansar Chand had taken refuge in the Kangra fort. Sansar Chand then turned towards Maharaja [[Ranjit Singh]] of Lahore for aid, leading to the [[Nepal–Sikh War|Nepal-Sikh]] war of 1809 in which the Gurkhas were defeated and forced back to the Ghaghara River. In return for his help, Maharaja [[Ranjit Singh]] took possession of the ancient fort alongside 76 villages (the fort's ancient Jagir) on Aug 24, 1809 while leaving the rest of Kangra to Sansar Chand.

The fort was finally taken by the British after the [[First Anglo-Sikh War|Anglo-Sikh]] war of 1846.

A British garrison occupied the fort until it was heavily damaged in [[1905 Kangra earthquake|an earthquake on 4 April 1905]].

==Layout==
The entrance to the fort is through a small courtyard enclosed between two gates which were built during the Sikh period, as appears from an inscription over the entrance. From here a long and narrow passage leads up to the top of the fort, through the ''Ahani'' and ''Amiri Darwaza'' (gate), both attributed to Nawab Saif Ali Khan, the first Mughal Governor of Kangra. About 500 feet from the outer gate the passage turns round at a very sharp angle and passes through the ''Jehangiri Darwaza''.

The ''Darsani Darwaza'', which is now flanked by defaced statues of River Goddesses Ganga and Yamuna gave access to a courtyard, along the south side of which stood the stone shrines of [[Lakshmi Narayan|Lakshmi-Narayana]] and [[Ambika (Jainism)|Ambika Devi]] and a [[Jain]] temple with large idol of [[Rishabhanatha]].<ref>{{Citation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l2oZiyOqReoC|title=Forts and Palaces of the Western Himalaya|first=Aśoka |last=Jeratha|publisher=Indus Publishing|date=2000|isbn=9788173871047|page=31}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{commons category}}
* Hutchinson, J. & J. PH Vogel (1933). ''History of the Panjab Hill States'', Vol. I. 1st edition: Govt. Printing, [[Lahore]], Punjab, Pakistan. 1933. Reprint 2000. Department of Language and Culture, Himachal Pradesh. Chapter IV Kangra State, pp. 98–198.
* Royal Family of Kangra and the Durbar-e-Amm museum society. ''Kangra''. Date unknown. Purchased in 2010 in Kangra.
{{Forts in India}}

[[Category:Forts in Himachal Pradesh]]
[[Category:Kangra, Himachal Pradesh]]
[[Category:Rajput architecture]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Kangra district]]
[[Category:Jain temples in India]]

Kangra Fort - Revision history

Bot at 06:06, 1 December 2022