The hill rajas of the Himalayan foot

Who rules

Name

not applicable (forty or fifty lordships)

Title

Rajas, ranas and thakurs; no single head

Since

not applicable

Born

not applicable

Family

Katoch-Chandra of Trigarta at Kangra; Varmans of Chamba; Pal of Kullu; Sena of Suket and Mandi (claimed); Pathania of Pathankot and Nurpur; Durgara lords at Jammu and Basohli; Katyuri successors in Kumaon; Panwars at Chandpur and the 52 garhs of Garhwal.

Confidence

low

Dynastic lists for almost every house are late (Vamshavalis, Atkinson, Mola Ram of the eighteenth century). Hutchison and Vogel (1933) say plainly that no copper plate of the twelfth or thirteenth century has been found for Chamba; Chamba's plates stop about 1105 and resume in 1330. The best contemporary stones are the Baijnath eulogies of 1204 for Trigarta.

Overlord

Each raja answers to whoever is strongest; Kashmir and the Ghaznavids in the past, now the Ghurid Punjab at Lahore and the garrisons at Delhi and Koil

What the realm holds

• Kangra (Nagarkot) fort and the Beas valley
• Chamba, Bharmour (Brahmapura), Pangi and the Ravi upper valley
• Kullu and the Beas upper valley
• Suket, Mandi and the Sutlej hills
• Pathankot, Nurpur, Jammu, Basohli
• Kishtwar and Bhadrawah
• Kumaon and Garhwal, Badrinath, Kedarnath, Joshimath, Haridwar

How it was acquired

Not applicable.

Allies and rivals

Frequent small wars among themselves; marriage ties across the group (a Chamba princess married a king of Kashmir; Kiragrama's ranas married Trigarta's daughters). Kashmir to the north-west, the Ghurids at Lahore and Delhi to the south, Guge and western Tibet to the north and east.

The realm that morning

Independent, divided, undisturbed. The hills are the refuge of the plains' displaced chiefs. Ghurid reach stops at the foot; no raid into the valleys is recorded for the 1190s.

Wealth

Pilgrim revenue, timber, musk and wool, the salt and borax road from Tibet, hill iron and copper, the Kangra treasury of tradition, horses from the plains; terraced rice in the valleys.

Military

Hill forts (Kangra, Bharmour, the 52 garhs of Garhwal); levies of the hill peoples; no numbers.

Threats

• A Ghurid column up from Lahore or Samana
• Khokhar and plains raiders at the foot
• Quarrels between neighbouring rajas

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. 1204The Baijnath eulogies (Saka 1126) record the Shiva temple built under Jayachandra "supreme king of Jalandhara" and his rana Lakshmanachandra of Kiragrama.Depends on: Peace in the Beas valley.
2. 1205 to 1206The Khokhar rising cuts the Ghazni to Lahore road; the plains below the hills are in arms.Depends on: The sultan's defeat at Andkhud in 1204. Stopped by: A Ghurid victory.

Places of note

• Kangra fort: fort of the Trigarta rajas

Where the sources disagree

• Brief says "Chamba (the only copper plates)". Vogel (in Hutchison and Vogel) says none of the twelfth or thirteenth century has been found; the plates run to about 1105 and resume in 1330.
• The campaign board entry shades Jammu, Rajauri and Kishtwar with this realm. The asia_owner tool gives Jammu, Kishtwar and Bhadrawah to nin, Rajauri and Punch to per (Kashmir).

Evidence: Late lists, a few stones, almost nothing for 1200 itself except the 1204 eulogies.

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

On the map: The hill blocks are drawn as districts; on the real ground it was valley-by-valley lordship with high forests between. Each raja has his own record.

Primary sources for this realm

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.