Hereditary lords · The hill rajas of the Himalayan foot · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Pathania of Nurpur

The Pathania chiefs hold the hills and the foot between the Ravi and the Beas.

The name Nurpur is later (it is the seventeenth-century name of Dhameri), so on 1 January 1200 the seat is Paithan (Pathankot), with the hill fort of Dhameri behind it. Pathankot is a plain-edge place with Lahore less than two days away, so its raja is the hill lord most exposed to Ghurid reach. Whether he paid Lahore is not known.

Who he is

Title
Raja of Paithan (Pathankot), a Pathania Rajput
Since
not known
Born
not known
Family
By the family tradition (unchecked) the line came from a Tomara of Delhi named Jhet Pal about the year 1000.
Confidence
low

Tradition only; not read in this session.

Overlord

not pinned: Pathankot stands on the plain edge below the hills, close to the Ghurid frontier

What it holds

  • Paithan (Pathankot) and the land at the foot of the hills
  • Dhameri (the later Nurpur) in the lower hills

How it was acquired

Hereditary by tradition.

Allies and rivals

Jammu and Basohli to the north-west, Kangra to the east, the Ghurid Punjab to the south.

How things stand that morning

A frontier hill lordship with no recorded dealing with the Ghurids.

Wealth

Foot-hill tolls, grain and timber.

Military

Hill and plain levies; no numbers.

Threats

  • Lahore's Ghurid garrison

Places of note

  • Paithan (Pathankot): plain-edge seat
  • Dhameri (Nurpur): hill fort of the family

Where the sources disagree

  • The assignment lists "Nurpur". The town of that name is not yet named; the campaign board has it as Dhameri, which we follow.

Evidence: Tradition only.

"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.

On the map: An estimate round two points.

Primary sources for Hill rajas

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • The River of Kings, with Jonaraja's continuation, Kalhana; continued by Jonaraja (Kalhana 1148 to 1150; Jonaraja about 1459). Kalhana's chronicle stops in 1149, so for 1200 the witness is Jonaraja, writing three centuries later and very briefly. Read online
  • The Gopala Raja Chronicle, and the Nepalese colophons, Anonymous (chronicle); various scribes (colophons) (the chronicle about 1389; the colophons are contemporary notes of the 11th to 14th centuries). The Nepal valley in 1200 is known chiefly from dated manuscript colophons and short inscriptions, which name the reigning king with the Nepal era year, and from the Gopalarajavamsavali, a chronicle written about 1389 that lists the kings with regnal years.

Sources and studies

  1. Hutchison and Vogel, History of the Panjab Hill States, vol. 2 (Suket, Mandi, Kullu, Jammu): NOT read, the fetch of the full text was refused; what is said of these houses is the late dynastic tradition from general knowledge and is flagged unchecked

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.