Sujanpur Tihra
On the left bank of River Beas, Sujanpur Tihra was a retreat for the rulers of Kangra. It was Maharaja Sansar Chand, one of the last famous Katoch rulers, who turned this fledgling township into his capital in the early 19th century. A wide meadow (Chaugan) in the towns heartland is where the residents hold most of their festivals, fairs and other public functions.Under royal patronage palaces and temples were built and the famous Kangra school of miniature paintings here turned into an artistic school of excellence. Important monuments at Sujanpur are the hilltop remains of a palace, the temples of Narvadeshwar, Mahadev, Vyasheshwar, Gauri Shankar, Murli Manohar and the Krishna temple. Wall painting on some of these temples exhibit the artistic brilliance of the painters. The tomb of Nawab Ghulam Mohammad is a testimony of the peaceful times that the township still lives by. Easily reachable, Sujanpur is 25 km from Hamirpur.
Overview
Tira Sujanpur is also called Sujanpur Tira or Sujanpur Tihra located on the bank of River Beas. It is a beautiful town inhabited by Maharaja Sansar Chand Katoch who was the King of Kangra and later shifted from Kangra to Sujanpur Tira after the war with Muslim kings who wanted to capture Kangra fort. Maharaja Sansar Chand constructed his palaces, temples and courts (called Baradari) on the peak of a hillock called Tira, overlooking Sujanpur's famous Chaugan, hence the name of the town is Sujanpur Tira. In the middle of this beautiful town there is one square kilometer green ground popularly called in Pahari language 'Chaugan' (which remains green throughout the year). Now part of the ground is occupied by the Sanik School. The ground is a meeting place for most of the town people, ladies, men, children for evening walks and for playing all types of games. Most famous Holi fair also takes place on this ground which lasts almost 2–3 weeks during the month of March.Based on the caste system each side of 'Chaugan' is occupied by Brahmins, merchants (Vaishyas), Kashtriyas and Shudras, but the concept is now waning. The town has two famous temples constructed by the king which are Bansiwala (For Lord Krishna) on one side of the ground, and Narvdeshwar on the other side towards the river Beas. One of the temples at Tira was destroyed during the 1905 Kangra earthquake, as were the most of the palace buildings. The Archaeological Department has tried to restore some of the monuments, but not to the extent desired. It is more like whitewashing done by the Archaeological Department. Many of the invaluable Kangra paintings were collected by erstwhile commissioner E.N. Mangatrai and some were returned to the museum in Chandigarh.
People of Sujanpur Tira (earlier probably called Sajjanpur due to people being nice, honest and religious-minded) are very hospitable and helpful. Though the town is nowadays thriving with activities and population in around is over 10,000. The people are highly educated and most of them know how to read and write. This town has produced many scientists, administrators, professors, doctors. Once upon a time it was the most educated town in Kangra and Himachal at large. The ruins still evoke the images in the old paintings which exists on the temples and palaces though the passage of time and atmospheric attacks have sullied them a lot. Whatever were left were destroyed by locals by whitewashing due to their innocence.
While Sujanpurtira produced many professionals and writers, a few of them really earned name. Dr. Ishwar Das was the first IAS of 1953 batch who retired as Chief Secretary of Madhaya Pradesh; Dr Sant K. Bhatnagar a Kharagpur IITian achieved eminence in the field of Rubber Technology internationally and authored many scientific papers and religion books; Professor Uttam Chand Mahajan who achieved eminence in Astrology and wrote four books after retiring from active service as Principal, Government College, Hamirpur. Professor U.C. Mahajan's latest book covering critical commentary of Mirza Ghalib covering almost 900 pages was published just before his demise in April,2014.Sh S R Bhardwaj of Brahampuri Mohallah went on to become an IAS officer and retired as Labour Commissioner Himachal Pradesh in 1987. Another eminent son of the soil was Shri. Ram Rattan Dewan who completed Bsc. Agriculture from Agriculture college Layalpur, now in Pakistan. After completing his studies he joined the government job as an agriculture specialist and through dint of his hard work he reached the post of Deputy Director of Agriculture ( Himachal Pradesh) and retired as such. Another star who achieved eminence in short time is Tarun Bhatnagar, who completed his B.E Computer Engineering from top school of USA viz; University of Michigan and MBA from Booth school of Management, University of Chicago. Tarun Bhatnagar works as Vice President in Google in Headquarter at Mountain View, San Francisco USA. Beside Deepti Bhatnagar having done Electronic- Electrical Engineering from BITS, Pilani and MBA from University of Southern California works for CISCo Enterprises and General Manager in San Jose, USA.
History of Kangra and Sujanpurtira
Sujanpur bears its name from Sajjanpur, which means "the town of honest and gentle people". Sujanpur Tira was later added as Maharaja Sansar Chand Katoch moved his capital from Kangra to this place and added more palaces, temples, courts and fort at the top of the hill ‘Tira’. Katoch have been kings for time immemorial and their dynasty can be traced back to 4300 BC, when Rajanaka Bhumi Chand founded the Katoch Dynasty. They claimed to have fought against Lord Rama in 3000 BC and Raja Susrma Chandra fought against Pandavas during the Mahabharta War in 1500 BC. He also built the Kangra Fort. In 900 BC Katoch fought Persian and Assyrian in Punjab and Rajanaka Permanand Chandra (also known as Porus) fought against Alexandra the Great in 500 BC. In 275 BC Katoch kings also fought Ashoka the Great and lost their land in Multan. In 100 BC Raja of Kangra fought against Raja of Kannauj, 470 BC against Raja of Kashmir. In 853 AD Rajanaka Prithvi Chandra's empire expanded. In 1009 AD Mahmud Ghazni attacked Kangra and captured large booty. Inn 1170 Kangra saw the division into Kangra and Jaswan. They lost the war with Muhammad of Ghor in 1220 AD. In 1526 to 1556 AD, Katoch fought against Akbar the Great along with the forces of Sikandar Shah Suri, but lost and yielded to alliance to Akbar in return to the title of Maharaja. Mughals attacked fort of Kangra 52 times but failed to defeat it. In 1620 AD Kangra was occupied by Mughuls. In 1700AD Maharaja Bhim Chadra joined with Guru Gobind Singh in the fight against Aurangzeb and was given the title of Dharma Rakshak by Guru Gobind Singh. In 1750 Maharaj Ghammand Chandra took the rein. From 1775 AD to 1820 AD, saw the golden era of Kangra under the kingdom of Maharaja Sansar Chand Katoch. Kangra flourished in education, business and paintings etc. Famous Kangra paintings dates back to the era only. From 1820 the decline of the Kangra kingdom started and Kangra was occupied by Sikh after the war with Gorkhas of Nepal. Katoch fought against British and lost. Raja Parmod Chand was imprisoned and died in captivity in Almoda in 1924AD. In 1924 Maharaja Jai Chandra of Kangra- Lambagraon was granted the title of Maharaja by British regime. 1947AD Maharaja Dhruv Dev Chandra, the last ruler of Kangra-Lambagraon merges his state with Independent India and in 1972 princely order was abolished in India and all kings became ordinary citizens of India akin to others. Kangra was merged with newly founded state of Himachal Pradesh. Later Kangra was split into three districts thereby separating Sujanpurtira from Kangra. Sujanpurtira became part of Hamirpur District. This was in short the historical background of Kangra and its kings.
0 comments: