Raja of Kangra

Who he is

Name

Not pinned: Jayachandra is the raja named in the Baijnath eulogies of Saka 1126 (1204); the later family lists put Hridayachandra before him

Title

Raja of Trigarta (Jalandhara), of the Katoch house

Since

not pinned

Born

not known

Family

The house claims descent from Susarmachandra of the Mahabharata; the lists of Hutchison and Vogel give the descent, but their dates for the twelfth century are reconstructions. A subordinate rana sits at Kiragrama (Baijnath) in 1204.

Confidence

low

Baijnath stones of Saka 1126 (1204) as reported in the Wikipedia and Hutchison and Vogel texts read; we found no Persian or inscription source that names the raja of Kangra between 1190 and 1200.

Overlord

none known; the plain below the hills has been Ghurid since Lahore fell in 1186

What it holds

• Kangra (Nagarkot) fort and the hill temple at it
• The Beas valley under the Dhauladhar, from Palampur and Baijnath to the Siwalik foot
• The Jalandhara hill rim: Hamirpur, Una side (the lowland edge is not pinned)
• A subordinate rana at Kiragrama (Baijnath)

How it was acquired

Hereditary; the house is the oldest named in the hills.

Allies and rivals

Neighbours: Chamba across the Dhauladhar, Kullu to the east, Mandi and Suket to the south-east, Nurpur and Pathankot to the west, Jammu beyond the Ravi; the Ghurid Punjab to the south-west.

How things stand that morning

An unconquered hill kingdom whose raja's name for 1 January 1200 cannot be fixed. Kangra fort was taken once by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1009 and, by the later tradition, not again until the fourteenth century (unchecked).

Wealth

Fort-temple offerings, hill timber and bamboo, the pilgrim roads to Jwalamukhi and Baijnath, tolls where the Beas valley meets the plain.

Military

A fort at Nagarkot and hill levies; no numbers in any source we read.

Threats

• Ghurid commanders on the plain, who have the strength but no recorded reason to climb the hills in 1200

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. 1204 (Saka 1126)Two merchant brothers set up the Baijnath eulogies naming the raja of Trigarta and a rana of Kiragrama.Depends on: Peace in the valley. Stopped by: Nothing in our sources.

Places of note

• Kangra (Nagarkot): fort and goddess temple
• Jwalamukhi: flame shrine on the road south of Kangra

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign board entry labels Kangra (kangra-nagarkot) as a castle and the rest as Trigarta; the name of the raja is not on the campaign board. We give him as not pinned.

Evidence: Late family lists and one pair of stones four years after the date.

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

On the map: A district-level block for a hill kingdom whose real hold was valley by valley.

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.