Mughal service
The Pathania rajas held the country around Dhameri, on the edge of the hills where the Ravi leaves them. Jahangir renamed the town Nurpur after his empress. The rajas held high mansab rank in Mughal service and campaigned as far as Kabul and the Deccan.
Jagat Singh Pathania, in the mid-seventeenth century, revolted against Shah Jahan, held out in the hill forts, was defeated and then restored to service — a career that illustrates how the Mughal system absorbed rebellion when the rebel was useful.
The Brij Raj Swami temple in Nurpur fort is unusual in housing images of Kṛṣṇa and Mīrābāī together, and its wall paintings survive in part.
Nurpur was taken by Ranjit Singh and passed to the British in 1849 as part of the Punjab annexation; unlike Chamba or Mandi it was not restored as a state, and its rajas became jagirdars.
Further reading
- Asher, Catherine B. India Before Europe. Cambridge University Press, 2006
- Jackson, Peter. The Delhi Sultanate: A Political and Military History. Cambridge University Press, 1999
- Richards, John F. The Mughal Empire. Cambridge University Press, 1993
- Basham, A. L. The Wonder That Was India. Sidgwick & Jackson, 1954
- Keay, John. India: A History. HarperCollins, 2000
See also
This entry was last revised on 1 August 2026.