An Overview of Himachal Pradesh district Kangra Continued Part -II

 An Overview of Himachal Pradesh district Kangra Part - II

Brief History Continued - Period Between 1528 to 1563 AD :- 

View of Nagarkot fort [ Kangra Fort ]

Raja Ram Chand ruled the state between 1510 to 1528 AD and his elder son Raja Dharam Chand became Raja of Kangra in 1528 AD after Raja Ram Chand .

He ruled the state from 1528 to 1563 A D. 

He was awarded the title of Maharaja by Empror Akbar .

In 1562 AD a poet  named Manik Chand in  The court of Raja Dharam Chand ,wrote a  play named " Dharam Chand " in this Naatak  the narration about Raja Rup Chand and Sultan of Delhi Feroze Shah has been narrated .

Shershah Suri  an Afgan Pathan born in India remained as soldier in the army of Empror Babar later promoted as Army Chief and Governor of Bihar was dreaming to be Empror of Delhi . After the death of Babar his son Humayun became the Empror of Delhi .  In 1537 AD, in the battle of Chausa and later in 1539 A D in the battle of Bilgram and Kanauj Shershah Suri defeated   Humayun very badly  and in 1540 AD established Suri Empire in Northern India  . In 1540 AD Shershah Suri invaded in the hills of Kangra to win Kangra Fort under the leadership of Khawas Khan his army chief and succeeded . Treaty was executed between Raja Dharam Chand and Shershah Suri to maintain peace and accepted to pay tribute to Delhi Saltnat .  Empror Shershah Suri ruled India only five years up to 1545AD and in 1545 he died .

View of Dharamshala district Kangra .

In the battle of Kannauj and Bilgram Humayun left the ground and succeeded in leaving India went to Afghanistan with his family . In the year 1555 Humayun again succeeded in establishing his rule in Delhi . He declared Jalal Uddin Akbar the Empror . After the death of Humayun Bairam Khan crowned the Jalal Uddin Akbar on throne in the age of 14 years in 1556  . 

Bairam Khan or Mohamed Bairam Khan was a well-known worrier and was awarded with a title of Khan- a -Khana . He was  teacher and guardian of Jalal . Empror Jalal Uddin Akbar being minor, was ruling with the help of Bairam Khan 

In the year 1557 Sikander Shah had invaded in Punjab , so Empror Jalal Uddin Akbar sent his army to Punjab to stop and arrest him  but as and when Akbar  aheaded Sikander Shah entered Nurpur [ old name Dhameri ] where Sikander Shah's friend Bhakat Mal was ruler of Dhameri . Both were arrested by Akbar  then  after surrendering Mankot Fort Sikander Shah was sent to Bengal and Bhakat Mal was sent to Lahore , where he was killed by Army Chief Bairam Khan .

View of Nurpur Fort 

In 1556 AD Shahenshah Jalal Uddin Akbar had attempted to win the Nagarkot fort but couldn't succeeded . Later he attempted 52 times to win this Nagarkot fort but he couldn't succeeded in his life time .

Raja Dharam Chand died in 1563 AD

Period Between 1563AD to 1570 AD :-

After the death of Raja Dharam Chand his son Manikya Chand became Raja of Kangra. Raja Manikya Chand ruled Kangra State till 1570 AD . He died in 1570 .

Period Between 1570 AD to 1585 AD :- 

After the death of Raja Manikya Chand  , Jai Chand -v became Raja of Kangra and he ruled the state for fifteen years till 1585 AD . He died in 1585 .

In 1572 AD Akbar deputed his Revenue Minister , Toddar Mal to establish royal property in hilly states . In which 66 villages of Nagarkot and in Chamba , Rihlu ,  Pathiyar  and some areas were included .

During this period Raja Jai Chand came under some doubt then Raja Guler Raja Ram Chand was sent to Nagarkot to arrest Raja Jai Chand. 

Then Bidhi Chand son of Raja Jai Chand  considering his father died , he took the thorne and with the help of Gopi Chand Raja of Jaswan rebelled against Akbar . To suppress this revolt ,  Punjab Viceroy Khan Jahan Hussein Kulin Khan along with very  able Wazir Birbal were sent and they successfully suppressed this revolt .  The area was allocated as Jagir to Birbal . 

In the meantime Punjab Viceroy Khan Jahan Husssin Kulin Khan along with other noble army personals  were sent to win the Nagarkot fort  via way of Pathankot and Dhameri . Then first  they invaded Kotla fort which was  forcefully possessed by Raja Kangra  from Raja Guler and succeeded in snatching from Raja Kangra . The Kotla fort was returned to Raja Ram Chand , Raja of Guler state. Now it became easy to invade towards Nagarkot fort but in the mean time a news reached that  Ibrahim Hossain Mirza  and Masood Mirza relatives of Akbar had invaded Punjab .  So on this event they returned to Punjab to fight against them and left the Nagarkot Fort mission .In 1585 Raja  Jai Chand died and his son Bidhi Chand seated on the Seat .

Period Between 1585AD to 1607 AD :- 

After the death of Raja Jai Chand , Raja Bidhi Chand seated on the thorne of Kangra State in 1585 AD . He ruled the state till his death in 1607 A D.

When Raja Bidhi Chand seated on thorne the states between Jammu and  Nagarkot formed an organisation  . In 1588 -89 this states organization revolted and Shehnshah Akbar sent  Zen Khan Kokka to suppress this revolt and did it successfully .  Raja Bidhi Chand surrendered before Shehnshah Akbar  , his son Trilok Chand was imprisoned in Akbar 's court .

View of Kangra hills 

In the year 1794 -95 one another revolt took place  against Mughal Empire under the leadership of Raja Jasrota but Raja Bidhi Chand of Nagarkot and Raja Basu of Dhameri did not participated . This revolt was successfully suppressed by Mirza Rustam Kandhari and Shekh Farid .   Akbar the great who was born on 15 October 1542 AD in Umarkot  in Sindh died in Fatehpur Sikri on 27 October 1605 A D and his son Jahangir became Empror . After the death of Raja Bidhi Chand his son Trilok Chand became Raja of Nagarkot in 1607 A D 

Period Between 1607AD to 1612 AD :-  

Raja Trilok Chand became Raja of Kangra in 1607 after the death of Raja Bidhi Chand .He ruled the state till 1612 A D 

Period Between 1612AD to 1627 AD  :-  

After Raja Trilok Chand , Raja Hari Chand - II became Raja of Nagarkot in 1612 and ruled the state till 1627 AD . At that time Empror Jahangir was in power .

View of Dhauladhar Kangra 

During his reign in 1615 AD Empror Jahangir made a plan to win Nagarkot fort  and to achieve his Target he sent  Raja Dhameri , Suraj Mal and Shekh Farid or Murtza Khan  . But  due to some differences a dispute arose between them . After the death of Farid , Murtza Khan Raja Suraj Mal was called back and in 1616AD he was sent to Deccan  to help prince Shahjahan . Thus the plan was kept. Pending .

In one another attempt Raja Man Singh of Jaipur Rajasthan was sent to achieve Nagarkot fort but  he was killed by a hill Jamidar  Sangram .

In year 1617 AD Empror Jahangir again tried to possess Nagarkot fort , he sent Raja Suraj Mal king of Dhameri and Shah Kulin Khan Takki  for this purpose .

Again the same story was repeated  , dispute arose between them due to which Shah Kulin Khan Takki was called back by Jahangir .

View of Fort Gate .

Now Raja Suraj Mal started revolt against Mughals. To suppress this revolt Jahangir deputed a competent King Reyan Sunder Dass . This time Raja Suraj Mal ran away to Mankot fort , then to  Dhameri Fort and  from there he fled away to Taragarh fort Chamba where he died in 1619 A D .

In 1620 AD after a very long struggle of 14 months with the help of younger brother of Raja Suraj Mal whose name was Raja Jagat Singh and another Raja Bikramjeet  [ Rayan Sunder Dass] Jahangir succeeded to win the Nagarkot fort . Navab Ali Khan was made 1st. Mughal Kiledar, 

Kiladar was a title for governor of the fort at that time .

Empror Jahangir received the news of victory on the fort on 20 th November 1620 AD.

In 1622 A D  Empror Jahangir came to Nagarkot via Siba Guler  . He built a Mosque in the fort and a Gate and kept the name of gate as Jahangiri Gate and carved the date of Victory on that gate .

Kangra Fort Architecture 

Empror Jahangir returned via Dhameri , Pathankot , he stayed at Dhameri and changed the name of Dhameri after the name of Nurjahan Begum as Nurpur .

Navab Abdulla Khan and Koch Kulin Khan were two  main governors of the Nagarkot . Koch Kulin Khan had served as a governor of Fort for seventeen years .

Twenty two young  hill Princes  who were arrested in Mughal court at the time of Akbar, had been awarded the title of Miyan by Empror Jahangir .

Mughal Empror Jahangir was very found of painting art . His  period is called  golden age of painting art .

Empror Jahangir was using wine and opium in his last days which was causing illness to him .

On 28 October 1627 when Empror Jahangir was returning from Kashmir  , he died near Bhimwar  and buried on the bank of river Ravi at Shahdara near Lahore ,

 Tomb of Empror Jahangir . Raja Hari Chand -II also died in 1627 A D

The many hill areas were given jagir to Itimaad -Ul -Daula who was father of Begum Noorjahan .

Period Between 1627 AD Onwards will be covered in the next Post .

Beautiful View of tea gardens Kangra Himachal Pradesh