page_title: Katoch
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Katoch / History
caption_attribution_description: English: I took this photo on my last trip to India in 2010
context_page_description: Katoch is a Rajput clan of the Chandravanshi lineage. Their traditional area of residence was in the Trigarta Kingdom, based at Jalandhar and at Kangra Fort.
context_section_description: The main branch of the Katoch clan were the rulers of the Kangra State, which was, by some accounts, the most prominent kingdom between the Ravi and Sutlej in the pre-modern period.
  The Kangra State was also known as Trigadh, a name derived from the ancient Trigarta Kingdom mentioned in the Mahabharata. The tradition holds that the Katoch were the rulers of Kangra from the times of Mahabharata till the pre-independence era.
  During Prithvi Chand II's reign, they defeated the army of Muhammad bin Tughluq which was not able to fight in the hills. Nearly all his 10,000 soldiers perished in 1333 AD and he was forced to retreat.
  In the pre-modern period, the hill states of the modern Himachal Pradesh are said to have constantly warred with each other, despite relations of kinship and intermarriage. Then they were brought under the Mughal suzerainty by the emperor Akbar. The Mughal control was limited, however. The rulers of the states retained a fair degree of independence. Emperor Jahangir captured the Kangra fort in 1610, annexing the surrounding area and reducing the Katoch rajas to the status of vassals.
  After the decline of the Mughal power, Raja Ghamand Chand (r. 1751–1774) recovered most of the territory earlier ceded to the Mughals. Raja Sansar Chand (r. 1775–1823) established the supremacy of Kangra over all the surrounding hill states. During his reign, Kangra became a major centre for the arts and several palaces were built.
  In the year 1805, the neighbouring hill states rebelled, with the aid of the Gurkha army. Raja Sansar Chand was forced to seek the help of Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Lahore. The Gurkha army was expelled but Ranjit Singh also annexed the most fertile part of the Kangra valley, reducing the Katochs of Kangra as well as the neighbouring rajas to the status of vassals. After the First Anglo-Sikh War of 1846, the whole area was ceded to the British East India Company, eventually integrated into the Punjab province. The Katochs and the surrounding hill rajas were assigned small jagirs over which they had the rights of revenue and magisterial authority.
caption: The strategic Kangra fort commanded the respect of the region.[3]
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