History

In 1805, Sansar Chand attacked the hill State of Bilaspur (Kahlur), which called in the dangerous aid of the Gurkhas, already masters of the wide tract between the Gogra and the Sutlej.  The Gurkhas responded by crossing the latter river and attacking the Katochs at Mahal Mori, in May, 1806.  The invaders gained a complete victory, overran a large part of the hill country of Kangra, and kept up a constant warfare with the Rajput chieftains who still retained the remainder.  The people fled as refugees to the plains, while the minor princes aggravated the general disorder by acts of anarchy on their own account.  The horrors of the Gurkha invasion still burn in the memories of the people.  The country ran with blood, not a blade of cultivation was to be seen, and grass grew and tigers whelped in the streets of the deserted towns.  At length, after three years of anarchy, Sansar Chand determined to invoke the assistance of the Sikhs.  Ranjit Singh, always ready to seize upon every opportunity for aggression, entered Kangra and gave battle to the Gurkhas in August, 1809.

After a long and furious contest, the Maharaja was successful, and the Gurkhas abandoned their conquests beyond the Sutlej.  Ranjit Singh at first guaranteed to Sansar Chand, the possession of all his dominions except the fort of Kangra and 66 villages, allotted for the support of the garrison; but he gradually made encroachments upon all the hill chieftains. Sansar Chand died in 1824, an obsequious tributary of Lahore.  His son, Anrudh Chand, succeeded him, but after a reign of four years abandoned his throne, and retired to Hardwar, rather than submit to a demand from Ranjit Singh for the hand of his sister in marriage to a son of the Sikh minister Dhian Singh.  Immediately after Anrudh’s flight in 1828, Ranjit Singh attached the whole of his territory, and the last portion of the once powerful Kangra State came finally into the possession of the Sikhs.

Kangra passed to the British at the end of the first Sikh War in 1846 and there were several revolts against the British. Ram Singh, a Pathania Rajput, invaded the British garrison at Shahpur.  The British immediately rushed their forces, which surrounded Shahpur fort. Ram Singh finding himself at a disadvantageous position sneaked into the nearby forest to rearm himself. After the outbreak of the Mutiny in 1857, some disturbances took place in the Kulu subdivision; but the vigorous measures of precaution adopted by the local authorities, and the summary execution of the six ring leaders and imprisonment of others on the occasion of the first over act of rebellion, effectually subdued any tendency to lawlessness.  The disarming of the native troops in the forts of Kangra and Nurpur was effected quietly and without opposition.

The national movement in Kangra district was spearheaded by Comrade Ram Chandra, Thakur   Panchan Chandra and Baba Kanshi Ram.  Baba Kanshi Ram did a great deal for liberation movement in Kangra district.  He was responsible for the liberation wave in hills.  He was given the title of “Hill Gandhi” by Jawahar Lal Nehru for his work and “Bulbule Hills” for his melodious throat by Sarojini Naidu. With the freedom of British India, Kangra district automatically threw away the foreign yoke and entered into the era of democracy.