History of Kangra

Maharaja Sansar Chandra Museum

The Museum

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 [18000 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.


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Galleries at the Museum

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.

The Kangra Miniature paintings are by far the finest Rajput paintings of India. The are considered to be the renascence 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.

The Museum has exhibited 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 inside the floor display table).

This gallery depicts the silver furniture used by H.H Rajmata Shailendra Kumari a princess of Tehri-Garhwal.

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.

Maharaja Sansar Chandra Museum
Maharaja Sansar Chandra Museum
Maharaja Sansar Chandra Museum
Maharaja Sansar Chandra Museum