History and Heritage of The Western Himalayas- With Special Reference to Mandi State

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The erstwhile Mandi state carved out of conquests, subjugations and annexations of small territories belonging to petty Ranas and Thakurs during the period 1000 to 1650 A.D., established its sovereignty and final shape over an area of more than 1100 sq. miles. The land so formed of hills and dales of the Western Himalayas remained an entity till 1948 A.D. when Himachal Pradesh came into existence. The cultural activities which thrived and flourished in the Western Himalayas authenticate the glorious and rich history and traditions which indeed Mandi can boast of.

Dr. B. L. Kapoor, a medical personnel belonging to Mandi, has endeavoured to highlight the glories and gains which the Western Himalayas has kept preserved as evidence of great cultural heights achieved. The study of Archaeology and History has remained a passion with Dr. Kapoor who has authored hundreds of articles and several books, both in English and Hindi.

Since a long time, it had been my desire to consolidate the better known and well-established documentations about the native Mandi State as it was known till 1948 AD. As no new materials about this part of the country is appearing in press and print, I fear that what we had known will be erased gradually and hence this attempt was made to consolidate the facts and figures which are worth preserving for posterity. It may appear odd to the modern mind that I have taken up this so-called unprogressive-time, consuming activity. My simple and sincere reply is that I love the subject matter and wanted to share it with my readers. History and heritage are firmly linked disciplines. The main outfits of our heritage are temples and paintings. The latter have disappeared altogether from the land of its origin and the then state archives. Therefore a page has been appended about the paintings of this land. However, the temples are still the standing monuments of our past; any writing about Mandi is incomplete till its temples are not discussed; and therefore a humble endeavour has been made in this direction to highlight their features and associated fables.

In my childhood, my aged father used to take me around all these temples naturally to begin with, in his lap. He had an encyclopaedic knowledge about the history of Mandi State and all its temples which had come from generation to generation. Later as I grew up, I had the occasion to force him to visit and revisit these shrines with my index finger in his fist right from the temple of Ram Chandra at the far end of Mandi to the temples of Purani Mandi and demanding his running commentaries about these places of worship, their idols and the rajas and ranis who constructed and commissioned them. It used to be very difficult in those days to enter the Bhaadanti-ka-Behara to have glimpses of Bhadanti Mahadev, where presently is a hostel owned by the descendants of the Raja of Mandi. We were stopped many a time by the police guard to enter the shrine of Madho Rai. My father simply used to fold hands before the state policeman to permit us the entry on the plea his 'little child' is adamant to see the idol of Madho Rai and generally then only the entry was granted to step into the court temples in which is housed the shrine of Madho Rai and nearby used to be the State Treasury. Now time has changed. People can come and go with ease in all these places and the habit of daily routine darshan of the temples is not a part of life. It was in those fateful days that my father during our sojourns was at his best to part with his knowledge about the land. Later, study of history got special fascination for me. In my hours of leisure this pursuit became my habit, my nature and way of life. Although in the context of national history, the regional and local history may appear insignificant yet it has its own appeal to study criss-cross currents of information in the vast sea of knowledge, about the little known places of our country.

Keeping in view the role of my late lamented father whom I lost at the tender age of ten and who initiated my thinking about the history and .heritage of the place of my birth, with profound regards and gratitude, I dedicat this book in his memory.

I thank my wife and daughters who helped me a lot while preparing the text of the book. I am thankful to the publisher Dr Agam Prasad, and Shri Amar nath Khanna, an archeeologist, for bringing out the publication expeditiously.

**Contents and Sample Pages**