Kangra

History at a glance

1. Puranic
   Sati immolates herself; Shiva begins the Tandava; Vishnu divides her body into 51 parts with the Sudarshana Chakra. The left breast falls at Nagarkot, the tongue at Jwalamukhi.
2. Mahabharata era
   The Pandavas dream of Durga, who tells them she is at Nagarkot and that they must build her a temple. They build it the same night.
3. 1009 AD onward
   Mahmud of Ghazni plunders the Brajeshwari temple — at least five times. One source says he converted it to a mosque and left a garrison; the Kotoch kings recovered it after about 35 years.
4. 1360
   Firoz Shah Tughlaq plunders and destroys the temple.
5. 16th century
   Akbar rebuilds the Brajeshwari temple with his dewan Todar Mal. At Jwalamukhi he attempts to douse the flames with water and iron, fails, and offers a gold canopy that turns to another metal. Dhyanu Bhagat's self-sacrifice is dated to his reign.
6. 17th century
   European travel accounts and Mughal records describe Brajeshwari as a centre of the Shakta cult where blood offerings, self-mutilation and occasional ritual suicide were performed to ensure fertility.
7. 18th century
   The blood-spilling practices are largely discontinued, coming into conflict with a non-violent Brahmanical Hinduism promoted by urban elites.
8. 1809
   Maharaja Ranjit Singh visits Jwalamukhi. Sources credit him with the gilt dome, or the silver-plated folding doors, or both.
9. 1905
   The Kangra earthquake completely razes the Brajeshwari temple and, one source says, lays waste to Kangra Fort.
10. 1930s
    The Brajeshwari temple is rebuilt. Wikipedia gives the decade; the district government says the government rebuilt it.

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