Skip to main content

Kangre Da Tilla - Memories of a Now Forgotten Invasion

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...
Post a Comment

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 and bone arrow heads among other items.



Kameshwar Temple, Akhnoor (courtesy: Famous Places India)
An interesting thing of this area is the presence of a temple that has undergone much renovation, but is believed to have been an important pilgrim cite for centuries if not millenia. The Kameshwara temple is a Saivic spot, which traces its origins back to the Mahabharata era, assumed to be the place where Barbareek's body fell. Except for the pindis and a few odd statues, hardly anything may be considered of antiquity at the present site. However, the compound of the temple revealed interesting shell-inscriptions on pebbles, which were pilgrim records that go back to 6-7th century AD. As pointed out by Charak:

"These are the pilgrim records, engraved in the southern ornamental characters - the so-called conch shell script...The inscriptions mention names of pilgrims like Bahu-vijneya, Sukhigamti, Mahiso, Bhupamgama, Nahusha, and Balasrayavirya."

Courtesy - Directorate of Archaeology, Archives and Museums, Govt of Jammu and Kashmir
These records are proof that ardent Saivic devotees of the South used to come all the way to Akhnoor, and this place may have been a major pilgrim centre of the time, and must have certainly housed a 'great and famous Siva shrine' . These can be found today in the Dogra Art Museum in Jammu city, which is a pale shadow of an attempt to preserve the region's history sadly.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wazir Ram Singh Pathania, and the memory of Shahpurkandi

Poster describing Shahpurkandi Fort (courtesy Panjab Digital Library )   Pathankot. A sleepy border town today. A land of bravehearts, and more renowned for a terror attack on the air base in 2016. Yet, there was once a history of Pathankot that few remember in public memory today. Especially of Shahpur Kandi.  Shahpur Kandi is a Fort that falls in Punjab today. It used to be part of the premise of the Nurpur princely state. Nurpur was ruled by the Pathanias, a dynasty that was known as much for bravery and wit as it was for its patronage of art, patronizing the Nurpur shaili of Pahari paintings. Yet, at least nine years before the Indian war for Independence that took place in 1857, an uprising shook the British East India Company to its core.  It was 1848, and Ram Singh Pathania, who was going incognito post the collapse of the Lahore Durbar, had decided to repatriate himself with his father Sham Singh Pathania to Nurpur. Taking the title of Wazir there, these supposedl...
Post a Comment
Read more

Gulab Singh and the Battle of Jammu 1809

The year was 1808. The place, Jammu. Raja Jaid Singh was placed on the throne of Jammu to be its king, supported by the presence of Mian Mota Singh, the all-powerful kingmaker of Jammu. In this period of madness in the province of Jammu, one hoped that Jammu would witness a semblance of balance and stability being created. Jammu had been in a free fall following the death of Raja Brijraj Dev. Sampuran Singh, the successor, succumbed to smallpox, leading to the situation that a new successor had to be found desperately. In the scramble, the name of Jaid Singh came forward, and with Mian Mota Singh’s support, Jaid Singh ascended the throne. Raja Brijraj Dev of Jammu ( painting with San Diego Museum of Art) Contributing to the constant madness in Jammu were the Khalsa forces who would raid Jammu and pillage it constantly, devoiding it of its wealth. The 1783 pillage of Jammu remained afresh in the minds of the people and the aristocrats alike - for two months, one witnessed not a single ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Iconoclasm in India - Stories from Himachal

Iconoclasm is a known reality of India's violent invasion period. People trying to deny it are lying to themselves, be it out of naivety or malice. Dr. Meenakshi Jain, a highly underrated historian, in a recent public lecture, discussed her new research project on this very important topic, and how she has been collecting evidence to the same from various sources. While there are several well documented evidences across many parts of India, including the Northern plains, what Dr Jain has found so far is a broad lack of accounts of important events being captured in the hill regions, particularly in the North-Western Himalayas. To that end, there seem to be signs, based on my own research, that there seem to be cases that are famous and may be preserved in oral traditions and written records in various ways, but need to be pieced together by proper historians, though of course people will deep interests can certainly help contribute by finding out more and sharing records. Entr...
Post a Comment
Read more