The Kangra Fort is located 20 kilometers from the town of Dharamsala on the outskirts of the town of Kangra,

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History

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. 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. A mosque was also built within the fort of Kangra. 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 The Sukerchakia Misl was one of 12 Sikh Misls in Punjab during the 18th century concentrated in Gujranwala and Hafizabad district in Western Punjab (in modern-Pakistan) and ruled from (1752–1801). Misl was founded by Chaudhary Charat Singh ...

(father of Maharaja

Ranjit Singh Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839), popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or "Lion of Punjab", was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He ...

) and

Jassa Singh Ramgarhia Jassa Singh Ramgarhia (1723–1803) was a prominent Sikh leader during the period of the Sikh Confederacy. He was the founder of the Ramgarhia Misl, Early life Jassa Singh Ramgarhia was born into a Sikh family with surname Bhambra in 172 ...

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 Chamba may refer to: People *Gilberto Chamba (born 1961), Ecuadorian serial killer *Jessica Chamba (born 1981), European activist Places Ghana * Chamba, a town in the Northern Region India * Chamba (Vidhan Sabha constituency), Himachal Pradesh * ...

, 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

Gurkha The Gurkhas or Gorkhas (), with endonym Gorkhali ), are soldiers native to the Indian subcontinent, Indian Subcontinent, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of Northeast India. The Gurkha units are composed of Nepalis and Indian Go ...

kingdom, who had already acquired

Garhwal Garhwal may refer to the following topics associated with Uttarakhand, India: Places *Garhwal Himalaya, a sub-range of the Himalayas *Garhwal Kingdom, a former kingdom *Garhwal District (British Garhwal), a former district of British India *Garh ...

, Sirmour and other small hill states of

Shimla Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared as the summer capital of British India. After independence, ...

. An army of 40,000

Gurkhas The Gurkhas or Gorkhas (), with endonym Gorkhali ), are soldiers native to the Indian Subcontinent, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of Northeast India. The Gurkha units are composed of Nepalis and Indian Gorkhas and are r ...

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

of Lahore for aid, leading to the Nepal-Sikh war of 1809 in which the Gurkhas were defeated and forced back to the Ghaghara River. In return for his help, Maharaja

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 Anglo-Sikh war of 1846. A British garrison occupied the fort until it was heavily damaged in 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-Narayana and

Ambika Devi In Jainism, Ambika ( sa, अम्बिका, "Mother") or Ambika Devi ( "the Goddess-Mother") is the "dedicated attendant deity" or "protector goddess" of the 22nd Tirthankara, Neminatha. She is also known as ''Ambai'', ''Amba'', ''Ku ...

and a

Jain Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...

temple with large idol of

Rishabhanatha Rishabhanatha, also ( sa, ऋषभदेव), Rishabhadeva, or Ikshvaku is the first (Supreme preacher) of Jainism and establisher of Ikshvaku dynasty. He was the first of twenty-four teachers in the present half-cycle of time in Jain c ...

History

Layout

References

Further reading