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
Raja Ajmer Chand of Kahlur (Potrait at Brookings Museum) The more one reads about the nature of the ruling dynasties of the Hill states of the Western Himalayas, the more fascinating it gets. The realization that the Hill states indeed became a repository for a culture that literally vanished from the North and Centre of India starts to weigh in on the mind, and makes you wonder whether there can be any recreation as part of a cultural project, though it may be a near impossibility. I have talked about the nature of origins of Kullu, Suket and Mandi, particularly their links to Bengal’s old Gaudiya and Pala dynasties. However, another important state of the region came up from the central Indian heartland, which does not seem to get highlighted enough. The state of Bilaspur (of Himachal, not to be confused with Chhattisgarh), or Kahlur as it was also known, was set up by an offshoot from the ruling family of Chandela Rajputs of Bundelkhand. This has been interestingly captured by Hutc