Maharaja Sansar Chandra Museum - Kangra

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Maharaja Sansar Chandra Museum - Kangra

The Erst-while Royal Family of Kangra has dedicated their Museum to honor Maharaja Sansar Chandra their ancestor who's reign was known as the golden age of Kangra. Maharaja Sansar Chandra inherited the throne of Kangra when he was just 10 years old. By the age of 21 he had defeated the Mughals and had won back his ancestral fort of Kangra. True to the saying He who hold's the Fort rules the hills The young Maharaja ushered in an age of prosperity and the Indian renaissance of paintings. The period 1786-1805 was the Golden age of Kangra. Maharaja Sansar Chandra established law and order in his vast empire, at its peak it his empire stretched from Lahaul-Spiti to the plains of Hoshiarpur [8000 sq miles]. Crowds of people with skills like Goldsmiths, blacksmiths, carpenter, weavers, soldiers, even dancing girls flocked to as Maharaja Sansar Chandra was generous in the recognition of men with good qualities. His subjects fondly called him the Pahari Badshah. Paintings were not the only arts which flourished in Kangra. Maharaja Sansar Chandra built many temples and palaces; he recreated the Shalimar Bagh of Lahore in Alampur. In the last years of his life he lived in Amtar [Nadaun] a town built by him. Nadaun was such a beautiful and enjoyable place that there was a saying Ayega Nadaun, Jayae ga kaun which translates He who comes to Nadaun, will never leave Nadaun.

Kangra Fort

The fort was first mentioned in Alexander the Great's war records; it predates the birth of Christ.
The Kangra Fort was built by the Royal family of Kangra (The Katoch Dynasty), which traces its origins to the ancient Trigarta Kingdom, mentioned in the Mahabharata. It is the largest fort in the Himalayas and probably the oldest dated fort in India.

The entrance to the fort is through a small courtyard enclosed between two gates. From here a long and narrow passage leads up to the top of the fort, through the Ahani and Amiri Darwaza (gate). About 500 feet from the outer gate the passage turns round at a very sharp angle and passes through the Jehangiri Darwaza. Further down stands the Andheri Darwaza. Beyond this gate the path leads to the Darsani Darwaza, which is flanked by weathered statues of the River Goddesses Ganga and Yamuna gaving access to a courtyard, along the south side of which stood the shrines Lakshmi-Narayana Sitala and Ambika Devi. In between these shrines is a passage that leads up to the palace. It looks very beautiful from the road during journey. In fact, one of the most beautiful forts in India.

The fort is at the beginning of Kangra town. It stands on a steep rock in Purana Kangra (translates to Old Kangra) dominating the surrounding valley, built strategically at the "sangam" confluence (places where two rivers meet) of Banganga and Majhi rivers. It is said that Kangra belongs to one who owns the fort.

In 1789 Maharaja Sansar Chand succeeded in recovering the ancient fort of his ancestors, from the Mughuls. The British garrison occupied the fort in 1849 it was heavily damaged in an earthquake in the year 1905. It is now declared as a National Monument and is protected by the Archeological Survey of India.

Galleries

The Museum have various galleries to take you back to the history.

Darbar Hall - The central gallery is the KANGRA DURBAR or the hall of audience. This has been recreated to show the visitors how Rajput Kings held court.
Kangra Paintings - The Kangra Miniature paintings are by far the finest Rajput paintings of India. The are considered to be the renascences of Indian art. In the time of Maharaja Sansar Chandra the master artist of his court produced some 32000 paintings. Some of the Famous series were the Bara-masa, Naika, Bihari Sat-Sai, Bhagavata-Purana, Gita-Govind, Raghmala. In the museum you will get to see some examples of these paintings.
Costumes - The Museum has exebited Royal clothes, textiles made of gold and silver thread, uniforms from the British period all from the Royal Families personal collection. Some of the costume have been worn by the Family themselves. The piece the resistance is the shawl presented to the Family by the Emperor Jahangir himself [it is the red shawl with paisley motifs in side the floor display table].
Maharani's Bedroom - This gallery depicts the silver furniture used by H.H Rajmata Shailendra Kumari a princess of Tehri-Garhwal.
Armory - Displays here show the various kinds of weapons used from the time of Maharaja Sansar Chandra to his great-great-great grand son H.H Maharaja Jai Chandra.

Facilities

To enhance your visit to the Kangra Fort and the Maharaja Sansar Chandra Museum, we have provided the following facilities:-

Audio Guide - Both sites have, state of art audio guides produced by NarrowCasters a world leader in audio guide solutions for Heritage sites and Museums.
Kangra Art Workshop - The Maharaja Sansar Chandra Museum has taken the initiative to revive the traditions and the school of the Kangra Miniature Paintings. At the museum you can see young artists using old techniques of paintings, creating new master pieces which like the famous Kangra Paintings will become works of art in the years to come. We hope you will incouage the artists with your patronage, as we are sure you know that all great art needs patrons.
Museum Cafe - Trip to the Kangra Fort can really make you hungry so for those who wish to rest and savor the Kangra cuisine the Museum offer you the �Museum Caf�.
Museum Shop - For the traveler who has taken the time to come to the Kangra Fort and the Maharaja Sansar Chandra Museum, a trip back home without a souvenir from Kangra would sum up as an incomplete trip. So in order to complete your trip and to cherish the time you spent at the Fort, the museum shop offers you a variety of mementoes from T-Shirts / decorative / books on Kangra etc.

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