What is recorded
Nalagarh was founded around 1100 by a branch of the ruling family of Kahlur, and held a small territory in the Shivalik foothills on the edge of the Punjab plain. Its exposure to the plains meant it was tributary in turn to the Mughals, the Sikhs and the British.
It was occupied by the Gorkhas in 1803 and restored after their expulsion in 1815, entering British protection.
The Nalagarh fort palace, built in the sixteenth century and much altered, survives. The state acceded to India in 1948 and its territory is now the industrial belt of the Baddi–Barotiwala corridor, one of the most heavily industrialised areas of Himachal Pradesh.
Further reading
- Basham, A. L. The Wonder That Was India. Sidgwick & Jackson, 1954
- Keay, John. India: A History. HarperCollins, 2000
- Kulke, Hermann. A History of India. Routledge, 2004
- Wolpert, Stanley. A New History of India. Oxford University Press, 2009
- Asher, Catherine B. India Before Europe. Cambridge University Press, 2006
See also
This entry was last revised on 1 August 2026.