कांगड़े दा टीला ओ माता, गर्वे सिंघे घेरिया। अकबर कांगड़े चढ़ आया ओ मेरी माँ। सुत्ती ऐ की जाग दी तू, जाग अम्बे रानिये। गर्वे ने पाई लिया घेरा ओ मेरी माँ। A very famous bhajan from Kangra of Mata Bajreshwari Devi, remembered often across north-west India today, talks of the Kangre da Tilla or the Mound of Kangra, referring to the place where Bajreswari Devi is present. She is popularly also know as Kangra Mata, and the legend is that the place was set up by burying the kaan or ear of an asura who was killed by the Pandavas on the orders of the Devi. There are such bhajans for other major temples in the region as well, but as a history enthusiast, this one often draws my attention. The story of Kangra is as much the story of the civilizational wounds that the plains experienced; or perhaps it was worse, given how many times temple desecrations were made a conscious strategy. This song, at some level, seems to pass on the memory of one such gory experience that was witnessed by the peopl...
Pangna Palace Suket was a small princely state, part of the now Mandi district, with its capital at Sundar Nagar. It is one of the oldest surviving lineages of India, going all the way back to 765 AD. Interestingly, Suket, Mandi, Keonthal and Kashtwar (in Chenab valley region of Jammu) all had lineages related to each other. They all descend from a common ancestor of the Sena dynasty of Bengal, of the Chandrabanshi line of Rajputs. Hutchison and Vogel point out that The descendarnts of the common ancestors were three brothers, named Vira or Bir-Sen, who became the Ruler of Suket, Giri-Sen of Keonthal and Hamir Sen of Kashtwar. In 765, it is believed that along with his followers, probably Rajput adventurers like himself, Bir Sen crossed the Sutlej river and advanced into the interior, and defeated the then warring factions of Ranas and Thakurs, thus lording over them. Eventually, Bir Sen selected a site in the Surhi ilaqa, at 5,000 ft. above sea level, called Pangna, where he bu...
