Himachal Archives

Hadimba Devi Temple in Manali (picture credit: The OK Travel) As I had mentioned in a post earlier, Kullu's ancient name was Kuluta. The founders of the state are believed by Hutchison and Vogel to be descendants of the Pals who ruled over Prayag, from where they migrated westwards, conquering Haridwar, then known as Mayapuri. The founding of the present state through its current ruling dynasty interestingly is attributed to a Behangamani-Pal around 765 AD, a period where the Palas of Bengal had just come to prominence under their first ruler Gopala I. The Palas were supreme in North India, though they were always competing with the Gurjara Pratiharas and Rashtrakutas for supremacy in the Kannauj triangle. The Palas seem to have founded other states in the Himalayan region, including Mandi, Balor, Bhadu and Bhadrawah, as well as a small feudatory called Batol.The relations are curiously highlighted only in the Vansavali of Balor and Bhadu. Behangamani was one of the eight ...

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...

Since Kathua is so infamous today, let us talk something about Basohli. Basohli is part of the Jammu division of Jammu and Kashmir state, and was a principality of its own that could be traced back to at least 930AD, when it was part of a war between Chamba, Durgara (Jammu) and Trigarta (Kangra). Old Chamba copper plates of the time refer to this place, as per Hutchison and Vogel, as Sumarta, with its capital located in Vallapura. Sumarta itself was probably the nucleus of the Balor/Basohli state, and its Rajputs, the Sumarias, were famous for their martial skills. However, in modern times, Basohli is remembered more for its distinct sub-school within the Pahari paintings. The original capital of this state was a place called Vallapura. This Vallapura, now known as Billawar, lies in Kathua district, and still houses ruins of the early gone eras. One of the interesting places there, which probably has survived the ravages of time and invaders, is the Maha Bilvakeshwar temple. It is...

Okay, so long time, and a short diversion from the theme of this blog. Apologies in advance. Ashokan Pillar at Hindu Rao Hospital (courtesy hindurao.com) Very few people even in Delhi know the history of Hindu Rao Hospital in Delhi. Scene to one of the worst battles in the 1857 mutiny, this place also houses a baoli and an Ashokan edict, supposedly one of the several that Firoz Shah Tughlaq shifted to Delhi from random places within his empire (a popular one is at Firoz Shah Kotla (behind the cricket stadium) in Old Delhi. The place is located in the remnants of the Aravalli mountains in the northern parts of Delhi, more commonly known as the Ridge, and also houses a baoli. However, the building that houses the hospital was the haveli of a Maratha noble by the name of Raja Hindu Rao. Raja Hindu Rao was the brother-in-law of Maharaja Daulat Rao Scindia of Gwalior, and the brother of the female regent of the Indian princely state of Gwalior. Following the Revolt of 1857, he shift...

Pangna Palace Suket was a small princely state, part of the now Mandi district, with its capital at Sundar Nagar. It is one of the oldest surviving lineages of India, going all the way back to 765 AD. Interestingly, Suket, Mandi, Keonthal and Kashtwar (in Chenab valley region of Jammu) all had lineages related to each other. They all descend from a common ancestor of the Sena dynasty of Bengal, of the Chandrabanshi line of Rajputs. Hutchison and Vogel point out that The descendarnts of the common ancestors were three brothers, named Vira or Bir-Sen, who became the Ruler of Suket, Giri-Sen of Keonthal and Hamir Sen of Kashtwar. In 765, it is believed that along with his followers, probably Rajput adventurers like himself, Bir Sen crossed the Sutlej river and advanced into the interior, and defeated the then warring factions of Ranas and Thakurs, thus lording over them. Eventually, Bir Sen selected a site in the Surhi ilaqa, at 5,000 ft. above sea level, called Pangna, where he bu...

Chamba is a beautiful quaint district within Himachal with a vibrant history that goes back to references in the MArkandeya PurAna as Brahmapuri, which Vogel in his book Antiquities of Chamba State has postulated to be the now sleepy village of Bharmour. However, this village was once the capital of the ancient Bhramor state that ruled over Chamba. Many references are found to this place in KAlhAna’s RAjatarangini too, where the area is mentioned often as Brahampuri. The place is fortunate to have many inscriptions surviving unlike Kangra, Kashmir and Kullu, which saw the ravages of Islamic invaders, as Vogel too has remarked, that shed much light on the history of the region and the development of culture and language of the hills among other things. One interesting thing that the region houses is the Laksana Devi temple, first commissioned by Meru Varman in 8th century AD. The wonder of this temple lies in the recording of a crucial aspect of the evolution of scripts in India....

Kullu is globally known for its vibrant gathering of the various devatas of Kullu valley, all coming to visit the royal family at the time of Dussehra. The royal family have been hosting the idol of Raghunath ji or Sri Rama at the Raghunath temple of Kullu. These devatas, or local deities, are all invited into the Ramchandra darbar by the royal family of  Kullu as per tradition. While the festival is recorded to be at least from the 16th century. However, few people know that Kullu is the oldest state after Punjab and Kangra, known in the past as Kuluta. The oldest reference to the state comes from a coin issued by a certain Virayasa, the king who had it issued, dating back to 1-2 CE, as pointed out by Parmeshwari Lal Gupta and Hutchison and Vogel earlier.  References to the state comes in the Mahabharata as the tribe north of the Kuru kingdom, alongside the Trigarta and the Kashmir kingdoms. It is however the reference in the Rajataramgini of Kalhana that we have an intere...