Kings and their demesnes · The hill rajas of the Himalayan foot · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Raja of Kullu

Kuluta is the upper Beas valley above the gorge at Mandi, with the old capital at Jagatsukh and the pass over the Rohtang to Lahul and Spiti.

It is a small kingdom whose raja's name in 1200 is not known. The world sees it as a stopping place on the road from the plains to Lahul and Ladakh, and as the border of Tibetan cultural reach. The late dynastic list we know of (not read in this session) is a tradition of Pal rajas.

Who he is

Title
Raja of Kuluta (Pal line)
Since
not known
Born
not known
Family
The later Kullu list has a line of Pal rajas back to a legendary founder; its twelfth-century members cannot be dated.
Confidence
low

Tradition only; no inscription of the 1190s found.

What it holds

  • Jagatsukh and the upper Beas valley
  • The Rohtang route to Lahul
  • Mountain shepherd lands and the forest of deodar

How it was acquired

Hereditary.

Allies and rivals

Chamba and Lahul to the north, Mandi and Suket below, Kangra to the west, the Simla hills to the south.

How things stand that morning

A remote valley kingship, outside any recorded Ghurid reach.

Wealth

Timber, wool, herbs, musk and the road to Lahul.

Military

Hill levies; no numbers.

Threats

  • None named

Places of note

  • Jagatsukh: old capital
  • Rohtang Pass: road to Lahul

Where the sources disagree

  • The campaign board entry has Jagatsukh as the old capital of Kuluta; we have kept it. Naggar, the later capital, is not yet the seat (unchecked).

Evidence: A late dynastic tradition, flagged unchecked; no source read for the decade.

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

On the map: District block; the real hold is 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.

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.