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...
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...