History and information about Himachal Pradesh
The
impregnable fort of Nagarkot was besieged and the garrison starved into
submission by Akbar's son, Jehangir. The siege lasted fourteen months and
concluded in November 1620, when the Raja's garrison surrendered along with his
vast treasure. Jehangir was greatly pleased at this achievement and visited the
fort a year later. He erected a mosque in the fort.
During
Moghul overlordship, the hill chiefs got liberal and even generous treatment
from the imperial court. They were allowed more or less independent governance
of their areas as long as they paid due regard and tribute in cash to the
Moghul authority.
Aurangzebis
death heralded the disintegration of the mighty Moghul empire. When bigger
areas were at stake, his successors could hardly attend to far-off, insignificant
hill states. Thus, hill chieftains took advantage of the situation to resume
their independence. Ghamand Chand Katoch was the first to rebel and he occupied
his ancestral area, Kangra. Finding no one to restrain his power he extended
his influence in the neighbouring territories of Guler, Jaswan, Datarpur and
Siwan. He even invaded Kulu and annexed some of its parts. Seeing the talent of
this rising star, Ahmed Shah Abdali during his last invasion appointed him the
deputy governor of Jullundur and the adjoining hill areas. Ghamand Chand
utilized his new position to full advantage and ex-tended his control over
Jullundur, Nurpur, Guler, Nandi, Suket, and parts of Kulu, Chamba, and Kota
Kehloor.
The
expansionist activities of Raja Ghamand Chand could not continue for long.
jassa Singh, Chief of the Ramgarhia Sikh Mist, subdued him and in 1770, forced
him to pay tribute. Gham and Chand's star was no longer in ascendant, but with
his daring, cunning, diplomacy and treachery he paved the way for the rise of
the Katoch power in Kangra and the adjoining hill areas. Ghamand Chand died in
1773.
During
Ghamand Chand's time the famous Kangra fort had remained in the hands of the
Muslim governor, Nawab Saif Ali Khan, who frequently alternated his allegiance
between Delhi and Kabul as dictated by circumstances. He died in 1774, and
Sansar Chand, grandson of Ghamand Chand, finding the time opportune, requested
Jai Singh of the Kanahiya Misl, who had by now overpowered Jassa Singh
Ramgarhia, to help him take the fort. Jai Singh marched to Kangra at the head
of a large force and by threat, cajolery and bribery got the fort vacated from
Jiwan Khan, son of the deceased Nawab. But he decided to keep the prize for
himself. Then ensued the long struggle between Sansar Chand and the Ramgarhia
chief which ended in a compromise reached through the good offices of Maharaja
Ranjit Singh. The fort was to be handed over to Sansar Chand but the war equipment
in it was to be given to Jai Singh.
After the
occupation of the fort, Sansar Chand em-barked on a career of expansion. He
took possession of Rohlu from Chamba after a battle. Later he extended his
power over Kotlehar, Suket, Mandi, Kulu, Jaswan, Siwan, Guler, Patanpur, and
Bilaspur. By 1790, Sansar Chand rose to the apex of his power having defeated
most of the hill chiefs, subjugating many of them, except those in the Shimla
hills.
In the
beginning of the nineteenth century, the Gurkhas under the command of their
capable and ambitious commander, Amar Singh Thapa, after establishing their
authority between Yamuna and Sutlej, attacked Kangra in 1805. Thapa with the
help of other hill chiefs, who wanted to avenge themselves on Sansar Chand,
laid siege to the fort. Sansar Chand sought help from Maharaja Ranjit Singh who
wanted the fort as the price for his assistance. Much double-crossing followed
between Raja Sansar Chand, Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Amar Singh Thapa. Finally,
the astute Sikh warrior got the better of both, the Raja and the Gurkha
general. Amar Singh Thapa retreated but came in conflict with the new rising
power of the British in Shimla hills and lost. Maharaja Ranjit Singh annexed
Kangra and then ex-tended his influence over many adjoining hill
principalities. Jaswan and Datarpur were annexed by him. Nurpur, Siwan, Chamba,
Mandi, Kulu, Bilaspur and Guler were made to pay tribute. Sansar Chand
protested in the name of old treaties but in vain and was asked to pay an
annual tribute of Rs. 2 lakhs by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He died a broken man in
1824, and thus ended his effort to carve out an independent Hindu kingdom in
Himachal.
Sansar Chand
was the greatest patron of arts among the hill princes but was checkmated in
his efforts to integrate the hill states under a single banner by the intrigues
of the petty chieftains and by the rising power of the Sikhs under Maharaja
Ranjit Singh and the Gurkhas under Amar Singh Thapa, while the freshly emerging
British power in India watched the struggle for power in the hills from Shimla,
which besides being their summer resort was also a window to the events taking
place beyond the western bank of Sutlej.
The English
entered the hills in the wake of the Anglo-Gurkha Wars. The rising Gurkha power
had in its expansion come into contact with the British dominion in their ill-defined
and vague northern frontiers in the Terai areas. The conflicting interest of
the Gurkhas and the English had made a resort to arms inevitable in 1814. While
the hostilities first broke out in Butwal, Uttar Pradesh, in May the chieftains
of hill states in areas east of Sutlej some of whom had been deposed and others
ruthlessly oppressed by the Gurkhas, offered co-operation to the British
against Amar Singh Thapa. Then followed a brilliant campaign led on the English
side by Major General Ochterlony in which he was aided by Bushahar, Hindur
Kehlur, Sirmur, Kulu and other hill states. Amar Singh Thapa suffered reverses.
Later, a treaty was signed at Sagauli in November A.D. 1815, according to which
Gurkhas abandoned all claims to these hill areas. The British had arrived on
the scene.
The English
restored the rulers to their states, Baghal, Hindur, Bilaspur, Bushahar and
Sirmur which had come wholly or partly under the occupation of the Gurkhas.
They, however, kept some areas of strategic importance with them. Shimla and
some other hill stations and cantonments are the products of the Gurkha War.
From now onwards the hill states between east of Sutlej and the west of Jamuna
passed under the protection of the British who extracted huge sums from them as
their contribution towards the expenses of war. These were named later as the
Shimla Hill states by the paramount British Power which settled their quarrels
and intervened in their affairs whenever necessary.
West of
Sutlej was, however, a different story. The hill states there were under the
influence of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Their relationship with the British was
neighbourly, though at times some of the chieftains sought refuge with them
from the Sikh terror. Sometimes the British, on request from the Rajas who had
taken refuge with them would take up their matters with Maharaja Ranjit Singh
who, desirous of keeping friendly relations with the rising imperial power,
mostly agreed to their remonstrations.
The
Anglo-Sikh Wars, which took place after the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh,
however, changed the entire con-text. In 1845, when the leaderless,
ungovernable and intrepid Khalsa army crossed the Sutlej and attacked the
territory under the British, the rulers of most of the hill states beyond the
western bank of the Sutlej who were much harassed by the policy of annexation
and extortion pursued by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, willingly offered help to the
British. Finding the Sikhs locked in conflict on the Sutlej front against the
British in the plains, the hill chiefs also took possession of the posts and
territories then occupied by the retainers of the Sikhs.
Some of the
rulers through their agents secretly ten-dered allegiance to the British even
before the First Sikh War ended with the Treaty of Lahore on 9 March 1846.
According to this treaty, the Sikhs ceded to the British all territories to the
left of Sutlej together with the Jullundur Doab areas lying between Sutlej and
Beas.
The rulers
of the hill states reasonably expected a fair if not a generous deal at the
hands of the British whom they had lent moral and material support during the
conflict. They had thought that they would be treated like the Shimla hill
chieftains and confirmed in their respective hereditary charges. Instead of the
liberal warrior, Lord Hastings, who was the Governor General during the Gurkha
War, India's destiny was now governed by the economist Lord Hardinge, who could
not let go any opportunity that added to the Company's exchequer. Instead of
restoring their territories to the hill chiefs, the British decided to retain
these themselves.
The states
of Kangra, Guler, Jaswan, Datarpur, Nurpur, Suket„ Mandi, Kulu and Chamba came
under the control of the British.
Comments
Post a Comment