Skip to main content

The Ballad of Handur: Honor, Blood, and the Shadow of Bilaspur

Black and White Picture of Raja Ugar Singh of Hindur, 1840-1850 (from Archer's book on Punjab Hills Paintings) Picture the year: 1795. The foothills of the Shivaliks are tense, echoing with the tramp of armed men and the grinding pressure of regional rivalries. Down in the valleys, Raja Ram Saran Singh Handuriya of Handur (modern-day Nalagarh) is caught in a grinding political bind. For years, Handur has ridden the coattails of Kangra’s aggressive campaigns against its bitter historical rival, Bilaspur (then known as Kahlur). But looking out across his contested borders, Ram Saran Singh faces a heavier, more haunting question: Does he continue serving as a satellite to Kangra’s ambitions, or does he break away, side with Maha Chand and Bilaspur, and reclaim a fractured sense of Rajput honor? The friction between Handur and Bilaspur was rooted in continuous struggles over strategic border zones, crucial river-crossing points, and the Satgarha (seven forts) territory. Because Handur...
Post a Comment

The Bengali Ancestry of Suket and Mandi's Sen rulers

Raja Shamsher Sen of Mandi and Raja Ranjit Sen of Suket


Suket and Mandi were two states that were relatively recent in their formation like Kullu. Interestingly, the Sen rulers of Suket and subsequently Mandi is traced back to a Chandrabansi lineage, linking them to the Pandava clans that ruled around Indraprastha.

While it may be difficult to postulate accurately that bit of ancestry, it is interesting to note how the ancestry moves subsequently into Bengal. It is here that our attention is drawn, captured in the history of the region and the connections with Bengal.

Khemraj, who was the last ruler of Delhi, had been replaced by his Wazir. He retires towards Vanga desha, or present day Bengal and set up the Gaudiya Sena dynasty of eastern Bengal. The capital of these Sena rulers was in Lakshmanpuri, along the river Ganga. An important ruler was the last one, Lakshman Sena, which was brought to an end by the invading Muhammad Khilji in 1206 AD, despite having expanded it into present day Assam and Odisha. What happens next, as per the bansaabali is quite a read.

Lakshman Sena's son, Rup Sena, moves towards Northwest India. He settled in Rupar near Ambala (present day Ropar), but got attacked by the Khiljis again. In the process, three sons to Rup Sena - Bir Sen, Giri Sen and Hamir Sen - escape into the hills.

Bir Sen later brought the feuding Ranas and Thakurs of Suket under his rule to create the Sen dynasty of Suket. Giri Sen did the same in Keonthal in Shimla district of today to set up the Keonthal Sen dynasty. Hamir Sen entered Kishtwar in the Chenab valley, and set up the Kishtwar Sen dynasty near Jammu.

While this legend, as B R Beotra in his 'Gazetteer of the Suket State' may have felt exaggerated to an extent, it certainly is in the realm of possibility. Alexander Cunningham ascribed an earlier date of the 8th century AD. His assessment, with which Beotra too agreed to an extent, noted the entry of a cadet of the Sena dynasty of Bengal named Vir Sen, which he believed happened earlier. However it is interesting that the link exists, and may be possible because there is evidence to suggest the same with other dynasties too. A Kannauj offshoot of The Palas of Bengal has been linked with the establishment of the rolling dynasty of Kullu. What it certainly demonstrates is that the route and the certainly known by that time, and they too were contemporaries of the Sena dynasty. Therefore, the claim is certainly meritorious to an extent. Of course, it requires greater postulation on part of historians.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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
Read more

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