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Through the ages
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1500 - 1805 A.D.
The calm of the previous century was shattered in 1556 when Emperor Akbar lead an expedition into the hills and subdued
the hill Kingdoms and levied tribute or peshkash
upon the rulers, Kutlehar was to pay 1600 rupees along with gifts of
jewels, cloth and hill pheasants on the occasion of the Emperor’s
birthday, also as a guarantee of loyalty, a son of the Raja or a Prince
of royal blood was kept in attendance at the Imperial Court, these hill
Princes at the Imperial Court were given the title of Mian ( Mian
denoted that the person was of royal blood and closely related to the
Raja, the use of this title was greatly protected up till early 1900s,
now however this is freely used by all members of the sub divisions of
the dynasty) and a troop of the Kutlehar army consisting of 40 horsemen
and 500 foot soldiers were stationed with the Mughal
Emperor and paid for by the Kutlehar Durbar, but Imperial favor was not
enough to assure safety and peace, rulers of neighboring Kingdoms
constantly invaded each others territory, even the Nazim
or the Mughal Governor did not generally
interfere in the Kingdoms wars with each other. |
Kattar with the handle in the shape of a parrots head
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At this time the other power that was rising was that of Sikhs, the first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak ji visited Kutlehar during his tour of the hills in 1515 – 1517 and was received with due honor and respect.
In 1621 Emperor Jehangir visited the Shiwalik hills, crossing the plains of the Kutlehar territory on his way to the Kangra Fort.
Then came a period of turmoil as the Mughal power declined and the Sikhs rose to power, Kutlehar found itself in between wars which had nothing to do with the Kingdom, Kutlehar was torn between allegiance to the Emperor at Delhi and the Sikh Gurus whose spiritual way of life was highly approved of.
In 1700 Guru Gobind Singhji retreated to the Kutlehar forests after the Mughals attacked Anandpur and in 1701 the Raja and the Rani of Kutlehar met Guru Gobind Singhji at Rewalsar, where the Guruji presented the Raja with a sword, the dense forests of Kutlehar and successive supportive Raja’s served as refuge for the Sikh Gurus and warriors to escape Mughal persecution and Kutlehar was perhaps the only State that did not attack any of the Sikh Gurus, leading to having to face the wrath of the Emperor at Delhi and the displeasure of some of the brother rulers.
As the Mughal power declined further, wars within the hill kingdoms increased.
In 1758, Raja Ghammand Chand of Kangra, after being appointed the governor or Nazim of the Jullundhar doab by the Durani King, annexed Chowki, the northern administrative province of Kutlehar, the Katoch King was subdued by Jassa Singh Ramgarhia and Kutlehar territory restored on assurance of tribute, Jassa Singh Ramgarhia was overpowered by Jai Singh Kanahiya, who was requested by Raja Sansar Chand to help him take the Kangra Fort which was under the Muslim governor, Saif Ali Khan, a siege was laid during which the governor died and his son vacated the fort for a price, but a feud ensued between Sansar Chand and Jai Singh, eventually the fort was made over to the Katoch King and its war equipment were made over to Jai Singh.
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A necklace made of Dutch Colonial - Holland Trade Gold Ducat dated 1717
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After the occupation of the fort Raja Sansar Chand embarked on dominating the neighboring kingdoms and soon made most of the hill Rajas tributary to him, this lead to all the Rajas uniting under the Raja of Kahlur or Bilaspur and collectively inviting the Gurkha general, Amar Singh Thapa to help them in regaining their Kingdoms, the help was to be returned by getting the Kangra Kingdom for the Gurkha’s, the Kutlehar Raja agreed to this but with the conditions that he would not fight outside his territory nor would he fight for any other rulers territory, after showing a brief apprehension to the Raja’s conditions the Gurkhas agreed.
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| Through the ages |
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