Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from April, 2018

The Ballad of Raja Malhi Prakash and Sirmour's History - Some Scrambled Thoughts

I was just walking through some documents I had saved over the years, when it struck me that there has been very little new research work or relook into the history of the hill states. One particular format has been the examination of oral ballads, very few of which seem to be available in popular culture today. However, that was certainly not the case in the British era, when much field work seems to have been done by scholars of Europe on the subject, as they panned across the state of the Lahore kingdom and their adjunct territories. Sirmour was a Small Princely state along the Yamuna river's course While their purpose may have been malevolent in nature, many interesting insights got captured over the course of their work, and replication or improvement on the same seems to be rather scarce, especially in the context of what the European scholars used to call the "Punjab Hill States". One such case was on Sirmour, where very little information can be found in the publi...

Akhnoor's History and the Forgotten Links with South India

Remains of Harappan Era Site (?) at Manda- courtesy Indian Columbus Akhnoor is a city located in Jammu division of Jammu and Kashmir. It is clearly the oldest inhabited city of the Jammu region, which goes long back to the Harappan era. Only in in the past four or five decades has the notion of Jammu not having any antiquity associated with it changed. Sukhdev Singh Charak in his book A Short History of Jammu Raj highlights several interesting aspects about this town, where he briefly shed light on several findings of the Charles Fabri expedition in the area, of which little is remembered in India, as Harappan era association even today mostly focuses itself on sites in Pakistan and a few huge sites in India.The site of Manda, at Akhnur, and recent excavations within the premises of the fort have shown the existence of .Harappan, late Harappan red ware, gray ware and black slipped ware'. The site of Manda also revealed things like double spiral headed pin, terracotta bangles...

Shiva Remains Tall in Vallapura

Since Kathua is so infamous today, let us talk something about Basohli. Basohli is part of the Jammu division of Jammu and Kashmir state, and was a principality of its own that could be traced back to at least 930AD, when it was part of a war between Chamba, Durgara (Jammu) and Trigarta (Kangra). Old Chamba copper plates of the time refer to this place, as per Hutchison and Vogel, as Sumarta, with its capital located in Vallapura. Sumarta itself was probably the nucleus of the Balor/Basohli state, and its Rajputs, the Sumarias, were famous for their martial skills. However, in modern times, Basohli is remembered more for its distinct sub-school within the Pahari paintings. The original capital of this state was a place called Vallapura. This Vallapura, now known as Billawar, lies in Kathua district, and still houses ruins of the early gone eras. One of the interesting places there, which probably has survived the ravages of time and invaders, is the Maha Bilvakeshwar temple. It is...

The Last Maratha of Delhi

Okay, so long time, and a short diversion from the theme of this blog. Apologies in advance. Ashokan Pillar at Hindu Rao Hospital (courtesy hindurao.com) Very few people even in Delhi know the history of Hindu Rao Hospital in Delhi. Scene to one of the worst battles in the 1857 mutiny, this place also houses a baoli and an Ashokan edict, supposedly one of the several that Firoz Shah Tughlaq shifted to Delhi from random places within his empire (a popular one is at Firoz Shah Kotla (behind the cricket stadium) in Old Delhi. The place is located in the remnants of the Aravalli mountains in the northern parts of Delhi, more commonly known as the Ridge, and also houses a baoli. However, the building that houses the hospital was the haveli of a Maratha noble by the name of Raja Hindu Rao. Raja Hindu Rao was the brother-in-law of Maharaja Daulat Rao Scindia of Gwalior, and the brother of the female regent of the Indian princely state of Gwalior. Following the Revolt of 1857, he shift...