Tracing the Origins of Bilaspur's Chandela Rulers

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 Hutchison and Vogel, who in their summation of the key elements of Bilaspur’s history, noted the lineage of the ruling dynasty in the Banshabali, known by the name of Shahi Bansa Binod, the element of the Chandela family.

As the story documented by Hutchison and Vogel goes, Raja Bir Chand set up the Bilaspur state in 900AD, and was a cadet of the ruling Chandela family of Bundelkhand. The ruler of Bundelkhand at the time was a man named Harihar Chand, who had five sons – Gobind Chand, Bir Chand, Gambhir Chand, Kabir Chand and Sabir Chand. One night, Harihar Chand was given darshan by the Goddess Jwalamukhi of Kangra, and on her orders, Harihar handed over his kingdom to the eldest son and started walking towards Kangra from Bundelkhand, as the Bansa Binod tells. Accompanying Harihar on this trip were his other sons, including Bir Chand and a retinue of soldiers.

What I personally find interesting is that when we look at the Chandela dynasty of Jejabhukti of the time, there is no reference to any Harihar, though we do find two kings by the name of Sri Harsha and his predecessor, Rahila, who ruled around 900 AD. The tracing of the lineage to Bundelkhand therefore needs greater examination, for it may have been the case that these were a minor feudatory family of the Chandela rulers. What is important to point out here is that the Chandelas themselves were feudatories of the Gurjara Pratihara dynasty. Moreover, as is seen the Suket state was founded by probably a family offshoot and not the proper ruling family of the Gaudiya kingdom of Bengal, who may also have been a small-time commander of the forces. The fact that these names carried over hundreds of kilometers certainly merit more scholarly work.

Reaching a place called Jhandbhari, which falls in today’s Hoshiarpur of Punjab, they conquered the palce and built a small fort there. Enroute from there on a visit to Jwalamukhi’s shrine, they paid a visit to the Raja of Kangra at Nadaun as he was stationed there. A game of tent pegging however saw Sabir Chand being killed as part of a treacherous plan hatched by the King of Kangra, which led to an encounter where the King and Harihar both died. Being the eldest in the group, Bir Chand then assumed control of the forces, and moved onwards to the Satluj valley. There, he conquered territory from the local Rana and Thakur rulers and settled on the left bank of the river. Further, he established the Naina Devi Dham and on the Naina Devi Dhar or hill, and at the end of the hill set up his own capital of Kahlur in the form of the fort called Kot Kahlur.

Kahlur Fort (Courtesy Gosahin)

This story also perhaps holds the seed of the age-long rivalry of the Kahlur and Katoch kingdoms, which surfaced repeatedly. Ironically, the situation kept coming up even up to the 1850s, despite fraternal relations being established between the two kingdoms of Bilaspur and Kangra.