Kangra
Encyclopedia
Kangra is a city and a municipal council
in Kangra district
in the India
n state
of Himachal Pradesh
. Historically it was known as Nagarkot.
, Kangra had a population of 9154. Males constitute 50% of the population and females 50%. Kangra has an average literacy
rate of 83%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 85%, and female literacy is 81%. In Kangra, 10% of the population is under 6 years of age.
Kshatriya
Rajput
s of Chandervanshi Lineage . The Katoch Raja
s had a stronghold here, with a fort and rich temples.
Another ancient name of the city is Bhimagar and it was supposedly founded by Raja Bhim, younger brother of Kuru Emperor Yudhisthira
of Indraprastha (now Delhi).
took the fort in 1009 and from one of the temple
s carried off a vast treasure. In 1360 Kangra was again plundered, by Feroz Shah Tughluq. The temple of Devi
Vajreshwari was one of the oldest and wealthiest in northern India. It was destroyed, together with the fort and the town, by 1905 Kangra earthquake
on the 4 April 1905, when 1339 lives were lost in this place alone, and about 20,000 elsewhere. In 1855 the headquarters of the district were removed to the cantonment of Dharmsala, which was established in 1849.
Kangra was also occupied by the Nepalese
(previously known as Gurkha
s) and made it a part of Greater Nepal
. In 1809, Ranjit Singh
the ruler of the Sikh state in the Punjab
, had intervened and drove the Nepalese army east of the Satluj river. Later it was lost to the British in the mid-19th century. Kangra was merged in India in 1948 by the then titled Raja of Kangra-Lambagraon
namely Raja Druv Dev Chand Katoch.
and Majhi River, and Beas
is an important river here.
cultivation was introduced into Kangra valley about 1850. The Palampur
fair, established by government with a view to fostering commerce with central Asia, attracts a small concourse of Yarkandi merchants. The Lahulis carry on an enterprising trade with Ladakh
and countries beyond the frontier, by means of pack sheep and goat
s. Rice
, tea, potato
es, opium
, spice
s, wool
and honey
are the chief exports.
Devi temple, Chamunda
Devi temple, chintapurni temple Baba Baroh
, Masroor Temple built by pandvaas and Baijnath temple are found here. Kangra Fort
is also a popular tourist attraction, so is Mcleodganj near Dharamsala
, headquarters of the district, and now home-in-exile to the Dalai Lama
Maharaja Sansar Chandra Museum adjoins the Kangra Fort. Available at the Museum are Audio guides for the Kangra Fort and the Museum.
,
----
Number of Households - 1,924
Average Household Size(per Household) - 5.0
Population-Total - 9,156
Population-Urban - 9,156
Proportion of Urban Population (%) - 100
Population-Rural - 0
Sex Ratio - 997
Population(0-6Years) - 902
Sex Ratio(0-6 Year) - 797
SC Population - 660
Sex Ratio (SC) - 1050
Proportion of SC (%) - 7.0
ST Population - 10
Sex Ratio (ST) -150 0
Proportion of ST (%) - 0
Literates - 7,567
Illiterates - 1,589
Literacy Rate (%) - 92.0
----
Municipal council
A municipal council is the local government of a municipality. Specifically the term can refer to the institutions of various countries that can be translated by this term...
in Kangra district
Kangra district
Kangra is the most populous district of the state of Himachal Pradesh, India. Dharamsala is the administrative headquarters of the district.-Geography:Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh is situated in Western Himalayas between 31°2 to...
in the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n state
States and territories of India
India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...
of Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh is a state in Northern India. It is spread over , and is bordered by the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir on the north, Punjab on the west and south-west, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh on the south, Uttarakhand on the south-east and by the Tibet Autonomous Region on the east...
. Historically it was known as Nagarkot.
Demographics
As of 2009 India censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
, Kangra had a population of 9154. Males constitute 50% of the population and females 50%. Kangra has an average literacy
Literacy
Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently and think critically about printed material.Literacy represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from print...
rate of 83%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 85%, and female literacy is 81%. In Kangra, 10% of the population is under 6 years of age.
History
Historically known as Nagarkot, the town of Kangra was founded by KatochKatoch
Katoch is the name of a Rajput clan belonging to the Chandervanshi kshatriya lineage. Their traditional areas of residence was Trigarta Kingdom, Jalandhar, Multan i.e...
Kshatriya
Kshatriya
*For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas in Hinduism...
Rajput
Rajput
A Rajput is a member of one of the patrilineal clans of western, central, northern India and in some parts of Pakistan. Rajputs are descendants of one of the major ruling warrior classes in the Indian subcontinent, particularly North India...
s of Chandervanshi Lineage . The Katoch Raja
Raja
Raja is an Indian term for a monarch, or princely ruler of the Kshatriya varna...
s had a stronghold here, with a fort and rich temples.
Another ancient name of the city is Bhimagar and it was supposedly founded by Raja Bhim, younger brother of Kuru Emperor Yudhisthira
Yudhisthira
In the great Hindu epic Mahabharata, Yudhisthira , the eldest son of King Pandu and Queen Kunti, was king of Indraprastha and later of Hastinapura. He was the leader of the Pandava side in the Kurukshetra War...
of Indraprastha (now Delhi).
Invasions on Nagarkot
Mahmud of GhazniMahmud of Ghazni
Mahmud of Ghazni , actually ', was the most prominent ruler of the Ghaznavid dynasty who ruled from 997 until his death in 1030 in the eastern Iranian lands. Mahmud turned the former provincial city of Ghazni into the wealthy capital of an extensive empire which covered most of today's Iran,...
took the fort in 1009 and from one of the temple
Temple
A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...
s carried off a vast treasure. In 1360 Kangra was again plundered, by Feroz Shah Tughluq. The temple of Devi
Devi
Devī is the Sanskrit word for Goddess, used mostly in Hinduism, its related masculine term is deva. Devi is synonymous with Shakti, the female aspect of the divine, as conceptualized by the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. She is the female counterpart without whom the male aspect, which represents...
Vajreshwari was one of the oldest and wealthiest in northern India. It was destroyed, together with the fort and the town, by 1905 Kangra earthquake
1905 Kangra earthquake
1905 Kangra earthquake was a major earthquake that occurred in the Kangra Valley and the Kangra region of Himachal Pradesh in India on 4 April 1905. The earthquake measured 7.8 on the surface wave magnitude scale and killed more than 20,000 people...
on the 4 April 1905, when 1339 lives were lost in this place alone, and about 20,000 elsewhere. In 1855 the headquarters of the district were removed to the cantonment of Dharmsala, which was established in 1849.
Kangra was also occupied by the Nepalese
Nepali people
Nepali people can refer to:*People of Nepal*Ethnic Nepalis of Indian citizenry residing in Gorkhaland area of West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and other parts of India.* Indian Gorkhas*Lhotshampas of Bhutan.*Nepali diaspora the world over....
(previously known as Gurkha
Gurkha
Gurkha are people from Nepal who take their name from the Gorkha District. Gurkhas are best known for their history in the Indian Army's Gorkha regiments, the British Army's Brigade of Gurkhas and the Nepalese Army. Gurkha units are closely associated with the kukri, a forward-curving Nepalese knife...
s) and made it a part of Greater Nepal
Greater Nepal
Greater Nepal is a concept referring to the state of Nepal extending beyond present boundaries to include territories ceded to the British East India Company under the Sugauli Treaty that ended the Anglo-Nepalese War in 1814–16...
. In 1809, Ranjit Singh
Ranjit Singh
Maharaja Ranjit Singh Ji was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire.-Early life:...
the ruler of the Sikh state in the Punjab
Punjab region
The Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...
, had intervened and drove the Nepalese army east of the Satluj river. Later it was lost to the British in the mid-19th century. Kangra was merged in India in 1948 by the then titled Raja of Kangra-Lambagraon
Kangra-Lambagraon
Kangra-Lambagraon was a princely estate in British India,with a Privy Purse of Rs 70,000/-. Lying in the present-day state of Himachal Pradesh, the estate was ruled by the ancient Katoch dynasty. Trigarta Trigarta Kingdom, Jalandhar and Multan were other names by which the state was known in former...
namely Raja Druv Dev Chand Katoch.
Geography
Kangra is located at 32.1°N 76.27°E. It has an average elevation of 733 metres (2404 ft). The district of Kangra extends from the Jalandhar Doab far into the southern ranges of the Himalaya. It is a town at the confluence of the Bener RiverBener River
The Baner River is a river that flows southwest in the hills of Kangra Valley in India. Baner River is also a tributary of the Beas River and drains into the central part of the Kangra valley. The Baner Khad rises as a small snow fed channel on the southern slopes of the Dhauladhar mountain range...
and Majhi River, and Beas
Beas River
The Beas River is a river in the northern part of India. The river rises in the Himalayas in central Himachal Pradesh, India, and flows for some 470 km to the Sutlej River in the Indian state of Punjab....
is an important river here.
Economy
TeaTea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
cultivation was introduced into Kangra valley about 1850. The Palampur
Palampur
Palampur is a green hill station and a municipal council in the Kangra Valley in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, surrounded on all sides by tea gardens and pine forests before they merge with the Dhauladhar ranges. Palampur is the tea capital of northwest India but tea is just one aspect that...
fair, established by government with a view to fostering commerce with central Asia, attracts a small concourse of Yarkandi merchants. The Lahulis carry on an enterprising trade with Ladakh
Ladakh
Ladakh is a region of Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state of the Republic of India. It lies between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent...
and countries beyond the frontier, by means of pack sheep and goat
Goat
The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
s. Rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
, tea, potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
es, opium
Opium
Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...
, spice
Spice
A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark, or vegetative substance used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food additive for flavor, color, or as a preservative that kills harmful bacteria or prevents their growth. It may be used to flavour a dish or to hide other flavours...
s, wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
and honey
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
are the chief exports.
Visitor's attractions
Many ancient temples like the Jawalaji Temple, VajreshwariVajreshwari
Vajreshwari is a town near Mumbai, famous for its goddess Vajreshwari temple and hot water springs. It was called Vajreshwari after reincarnation of goddess Vajreshwari or Vajrayogini,the presiding deity of the temple, in the area....
Devi temple, Chamunda
Chamunda
Chamunda , also known as Chamundi, Chamundeshwari and Charchika, is a fearsome aspect of Devi, the Hindu Divine Mother and one of the seven Matrikas . She is also one of the chief Yoginis, a group of sixty-four or eighty-one Tantric goddesses, who are attendants of the warrior goddess Durga...
Devi temple, chintapurni temple Baba Baroh
Baba Baroh
Baba Baroh is a tehsil in Kangra district, India known for a temple made of white marble to Radha Krishan and the Goddess Durga. This temple is famous for the largest amount of white marble used for any temple in Himachal Pradesh. Baba Baroh is located 23 km from Kangra. In this temple there...
, Masroor Temple built by pandvaas and Baijnath temple are found here. Kangra Fort
Kangra Fort
The Kangra Fort , , is located 20 kilometers from the town of Dharamsala on the outskirts of the town of Kangra, India. The fort was first mentioned in Alexander the Great's war records, referring to the 4th century BC.-History:...
is also a popular tourist attraction, so is Mcleodganj near Dharamsala
Dharamsala
Dharamshala or Dharamsala is a city in northern India. It was formerly known as Bhagsu; it is the winter seat of government of the state of Himachal Pradesh and the district headquarters of the Kangra district....
, headquarters of the district, and now home-in-exile to the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
Maharaja Sansar Chandra Museum adjoins the Kangra Fort. Available at the Museum are Audio guides for the Kangra Fort and the Museum.
Area Profile of Kangra Town
India censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
,
----
Number of Households - 1,924
Average Household Size(per Household) - 5.0
Population-Total - 9,156
Population-Urban - 9,156
Proportion of Urban Population (%) - 100
Population-Rural - 0
Sex Ratio - 997
Population(0-6Years) - 902
Sex Ratio(0-6 Year) - 797
SC Population - 660
Sex Ratio (SC) - 1050
Proportion of SC (%) - 7.0
ST Population - 10
Sex Ratio (ST) -150 0
Proportion of ST (%) - 0
Literates - 7,567
Illiterates - 1,589
Literacy Rate (%) - 92.0
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