Revision as of 09:35, 13 May 2018

The oldest documented fort of India

Rana Safvi, The fort that withstood 52 attacks, May 13, 2018: The Hindu

The view of Kangra fort
From: Pratibha Chauhan, May 8, 2018: The Tribune

Jahangir finally conquered Kangra fort. Nature then destroyed it

Location

Located on a steep hill which accords a sweeping view, about 20 km from Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh, the Kangra fort occupies a narrow strip of land between the the Banganga and Majhi rivers. Its unique position gave it many advantages, as the vertiginous cliffs made the fort mostly inaccessible — the only way in was from the land side of the town. TheShash Fat’h-i-Kangra, which was written in the 17th century, says of the fort: “It is very lofty and stands on a very high hill. Its buildings are very beautiful. It is so old that no one can tell at what period it was built. This fort is very strong, insomuch that no king was ever able to take it. And it is unanimously declared by all persons acquainted with the history of the ancient Rajas that from the beginning up to this time, it has always remained in possession of one and the same family.”

Inside the fort

Visitors are advised to enter with their foot, not their head for if an enemy was lurking inside, it was wiser to lose one’s foot rather than one’s head!

Written in the 18th century, the Ma’asir al-Umara describes the fort in glowing terms and says that it has 23 bastions and seven doorways. The Jahangiri darwaza has an inscription that gives details of Akbar’s son’s conquest. Once you enter the door, you climb a flight of steep stairs and reach the Darshani darwaza. This leads to the palace area of the Katoch rulers. The Darshani darwaza is flanked by two sculptures, now damaged, of Goddesses Ganga and Yamuna. It leads to a courtyard where the exquisite shrines of Lakshmi-Narayana and Ambika Devi stand. The Katoch still worship their family deity, Ambika Devi, at the temple. These are beautifully carved and one can just imagine how splendid the rest of the palace must have been before the earthquake.

Though the original Jain temple was destroyed in the earthquake, the statue of Tirthankara Adinath miraculously survived and is kept in a small room. It is a popular pilgrimage place. As I stood in the mahal area, the fort’s highest point, looking at the river below with my back to the ruins, I closed my eyes and imagined the fort’s grandeur before nature took control. I turned around and faced old, mute rocks — the only spectators to all the events of the past.

The story behind the name

The kot (fort), which was earlier called Nagarkot or fort of the city or Kot Kangra, was ruled by a clan called the Katoch. This Rajput family traces its origins to the ancient Trigarta kingdom, mentioned in the Mahabharata. It is believed that Maharaja Susharma Chandra, who had fought for the Kauravas in the Mahabharata, built the fort after the battle.

There are very interesting stories about why the place is called Kangra. The original name, according to legend, was Kangarh (‘kan’ means ear and ‘garh’ means fort) as it is built on the ear of the demon giant Jalandhara who was slayed by Lord Shiva and buried in a mass of mountains. Aśoka Jeratha, in Forts and Palaces of the Western Himalaya , says the demon’s body was so huge that he occupied 104 km of land. Thus, the demon’s head lies buried in the Kangra valley, his ear under the fort, his mouth at Jawalamukhi, his back under the town of Jalandhar, and his feet at Multan.

Various attacks

The much-revered idol in the fort has received rich offerings. Given Kangra’s wealth plus the belief that whoever controlled the fort controlled the hills, it was attacked 52 times, first by the Raja of Kashmir, Shreshta, in 470 A.D. Later, Mahmud of Ghazni (in 1009 A.D.) and Timur attacked it and looted it. However, all the rulers who attacked it, including Firoz Shah Tughlaq in the 14th century and Akbar in the 16th century, failed to conquer it. It was only Jahangir who was successful in 1620 after a long-drawn siege. He visited the fort in 1622 with Noor Jahan and ordered a palace to be built for him, which, however, was left incomplete.

In 1783, the Sikhs captured the fort, but in 1786, Maharaja Sansar Chand was successful in wresting it from them. Thus, once more it was in Katoch hands. In 1828, after Maharaja Sansar Chand’s death, the fort fell into the hands of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. It was annexed by the British after the Anglo-Sikh war in 1846. In 1905, the fort, which had withstood so many determined attacks by so many kings, finally lost to nature when most of its buildings were destroyed in an earthquake.

Maintenance

Adopt A Heritage scheme

Pratibha Chauhan, Kangra Fort set to regain lost grandeur, May 8, 2018: The Tribune

The oldest fort of India, the Kangra Fort, is one of the monuments waiting to be adopted by the Centre, but a similar exercise to seek funds for the conservation of the Viceregal Lodge, now housing the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) here, has failed to catch the attention of corporate honchos in 2010.

The much-hyped “Adopt a Heritage” scheme of the Centre may be in the thick of a controversy but the crumbling Kangra Fort, steeped in history, could find a saviour so that the relic could be saved for posterity. Built in times when history was not recorded, the imposing fort, spread over 463 acres, stands on high cliffs, along the Ban Ganga river. As per the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), it is the eight largest fort in the country.

It was in 2010 that the then Director of the IIAS, Prof Peter Ronald de Souza, had pinned hopes on business tycoons for getting funds for conservation of the imperial structure. He had written to industry giants like Sunil Mittal, Ratan Tata, Anand Mahindra and Lord Swaraj Paul, having a strong North Indian connection, for implementing the Conservation Master Plan. Some industrialists had bestowed grand generosity as they had given hefty amounts to Harvard and other foreign universities.

The plan, requiring about Rs 80 crore, had been painstakingly prepared by conservation architect Abha Narain Lambah and her expert team, using the adaptive principles. The IIAS was completed in July 1888 under Lord Dufferin and remained the seat of power till Independence. It was also a witness to several important events in the history.

The history

The Kangra Fort was estimated to have been built almost 3,500 years ago by Maharaja Susharma Chamdra, a descendant of the Katoch family. The fort braved several attacks with the first one by Raja Shreshta of Kashmir in 470 AD. The earliest foreign invasions record indicates that it was attacked by Mahmud Ghazni in 1009 AD. Muhammad Bin Tughlaq captured the fort in 1337.

The fort was occupied by the British after the Sikh war of 1846. A British garrison occupied the fort until it was heavily damaged in an earthquake on April 4, 1905. The fort is located on a long and narrow strip of land in the fork between the Manjhi and the Ban Ganga. The fort has 23 bastions and 11 gates.