Kangra Fort

The Kangra Fort is located 20 kilometers from the town of Dharamsala on the outskirts of the town of Kangra, in the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, India. The Kangra Fort was built by the ruling Katoch Rajput dynasty. Raja Dharam Chand submitted to the Mughal Ruler Akbar in 1556 and agreed to pay tribute, including, renouncing claims to the fort. But in 1620, Emperor Jahangir, killed that Katoch king, Raja Hari Chand and annexed the Kangra kingdom into the Mugha lEmpire. Under the leadership of Nawab Ali Khan and aided by Raja Jagat Singh , the fort was captured in 1620 and under Mughal rule until 1783. In 1621, Jahangir visited it and ordered the slaughter of a bullock there. A mosque was also built within the fort of Kangra. As the Mughal empire began to crumble, a descendant of Raja Dharam Chand, Raja Sansar Chand Bahadur II began a series of conquests of Kangra with the support of Sikh leader, Jai Singh Kanhaiya of the Kanhaiya misl. However, after the death of Mughal governor Saif Ali Khan, the fort was surrendered in 1783 by his son to the Sikh leader, Jai Singh Kanhaiya of the Kanhaiya Misl in return for safe passage. This betrayal by Jai Singh Kanhaiya led to Raja Sansar Chand soliciting the services of Sikh misaldars Maha Singh of the Sukerchakia Misl (father of Maharaja Ranjit Singh) and Jassa Singh Ramgarhia and besieged the fort. In 1786, Raja Sansar Chand gained Kangra fort by peaceful treaty with Jai Singh Kanhaiya in return for territorial concessions in the Punjab. Sansar Chand quickly focused on expanding his kingdom and conquered the nearby kingdoms of Chamba, Mandi, Suket and Nahan. In 1805 he turned his attention to Bilaspur and the then Raja of Bilaspur called on the aid of the powerful Gurkha kingdom, who had already acquired Garhwal, Sirmour and other small hill states of Shimla. An army of 40,000 Gurkhas responded by crossing the Sutlej river and quickly captured fort after fort. In 1808, the Gorkhas struck a decisive blow and captured the fort of Pathiyar (Palampur).