Lost Cities of Duggar

Lalit Gupta
Empires, kingdoms and dynasties fall, cities are ‘lost’, and time buries their stories under layers of earth and silence. In Bharata’s long past, the succession of political and cultural waves gave birth to great urban centres, some enduring, others fading into forgotten mounds awaiting rediscovery.
Some well-known lost cities include Dwaraka, Patliputra, Takshashila, Dholavira and Mohenjo-Daro. Several lost cities remain only in texts or folk memory, while others are archaeological sites, some already explored and some waiting to be explored more deeply.
In the context of the Jammu region, which was known in the Puranas as Darva-Abhisara. Its territorial boundaries as a geographical region in ancient times began from the west bank of the river Ravi and eastward of the river Jhelum, with the river Chenab transecting the land. The region shared its western borders with ancient Madra Desh (Sialkot) in the west, Gandahra-Kashmir on the north-west and north, Audumbara (Pathankot), Trigarta (Kangra) on the east-south-east.
Stray references to cities or urban settlements of ancient Jammu are found in the 6th-7th century Nilmata Purana, the 7th-century account of Hieun Tsang’s travel from Kashmir to eastern India via Poonch, Rajouri and Sialkot. But it is only in Pandit Kalhana’s Rajatrangini, the 12th-century Sanskrit text, that we find clear references to Darva-Abhisara’s different principalities and their ruling houses.
During the post-Islamic period, Persian and Urdu histories and accounts about Jammu emerge as invaluable sources. Prominent among these are malufuzat literature such as 14th Malufuzat-e-Timuri, Diwan Kirpa Ram’s Gulabnama, Ganesh Das Rajadarshani, Kahn Singh Billawaria’s Tarikh Dogra Desh, and Hashmat-Ullah-Khan’s Tarikh-i-Jammu. In addition to the above, the travelogues by European visitors and Gazetteers also record the place names of the Jammu region.
Kalhana’s Rajatarangini mentions the principalities of Babbapura (Babbor\Manwal), Vallapura (Billawar), Kashtavta (Kishtwar), Vartula (Banihal), Vishalata (Ramban) and Jasata (Jasrota). As far as the existence of urban centres is concerned, they can be safely linked to the capital cities of the above-mentioned major principalities. In the northwestern part of the Jammu region, the ancient Abhisara was marked by urban settlements such as Kalinjara (Kotli, now in Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir), Loharkot or Parnotsa (Punch), and Rajapuri (Rajouri).
Several Rajput clans from Duggar, mostly related to each other, ruled over smaller principalities in the region during the medieval period of Indian history and gave rise to the principalities of Jammu. Most of these States, however, expanded through a long-drawn process of family ties or territorial conquest.
Persian chronicles mention the above states as Bandralta (Ramnagar), Mankot (Ramkot), Bhoti (Krimchi), (Hunta) Chenaini, Buddhapur (Udhampur), (Vishvasthali) Basohli, Jasrota, Nandak (Samba). The other principalities were Bahu, (Bhim Gahr) Riyasi, and (Virat Nagari) Akhnoor. All these small states of the Jammu region invariably controlled an extensive part of an important river valley. The state capital was usually situated on the bank of the main river: Rajouri on Rajouri Tawi, Poonch on Poonch Tawi, Krimchi on Bhuteshwari/Biru N?llah, Billawar on Bhutana/Bhini, and Basohli on Ravi.
The settlements in Darva-Abhisara can be broadly classified into the following main types: Pura, Nagar, Nagrota and Raj Thada. Nagar (Naggar in Dogri) is a city and administrative centre. Whereas a Raj Thada, literally, the seat of a raja, is a synonym of capital and is a Nagar. According to Shiv Nirmohi, the word Nagari is also used as a capital. Therefore, a place named ‘Nagari’ is considered an old capital of a ruling clan. There are dozens of Raj-Thadas and Nagaris in the Jammu region. A Nagari doesn’t need to be a big city; it could be a town or a big village.
Lost Settlements of Duggar
Other than the above-mentioned historical and important Settlements of Duggar, Kalhana’s Rajatarangini and Ganesh Das Wadehra’s Rajadarshani also make mention of a few lost cities or nagari-s of Duggar. The memory of such lost cities also survives in folk memory as folk songs and lore. Some of the lost cities of Duggar are:
Bhupanagari: The origin of this settlement is said to be connected to Jambulochan’s descendant Agnibarna and his son Sudarshan, who, after occupying the Shivalik Hills, established a city called Bhupanagari. The city mentioned was probably the village near Kathua, called Nagari, and the region Nagri-Parol adjoining the river Ravi was, according to the local tradition, the headquarters of the ruling family of the region before Jammu was founded and made its capital. According to Rajadarshani, there is a rugged, desolate spot near Nurpur which is also claimed to be the ancient Bhupanagari, a spot some 50c to the southeast of the Nagri-Parol region.
Bahusthali: The lost city’s name occurs in Rajatarangini as Bahusthali in connection with the expedition of King Jaysi?ha of Kashmir undertaken in 1130 CE. The verse informs us that “Sura, the chief of Bahusthali, to whom King Sussala has previously given Padmalekha, the daughter of La?hana, in marriage…who had arrived to the assistance of his father-in-law”. Lathana, who was imprisoned at the Lohara fort, was released by the people. The Raja of Bahusthali went to his aid when Kashmir armies were mobilized against him in 1130 CE. The Rajas of Dogra country, including those of Babbapura (Babbor) and Vallpura (Balaur-Basohli), played some role in Kashmir politics. The Rajatarangini mentions these two rulers supporting Bikshachara’s claim for the throne of Kashmir. At that time, Vajradhara, also called Chakradhara, was the Raja of Babbapura. It can be, therefore, conjectured that Sura, the chief who went to assist Lothana, may have belonged to the Dogra group, and if so, Bahusthali may be identified with Bahu of Dogra annals, while Sura was probably a samant of that place, which was part of the Babbapura state. According to historian SDS Charak all these need to be corroborated by further evidence.
Dharanagari: The legendary settlement of Dhranagari is associated with Raja Bhanu Jakha (Jaksha) and his son, Samundar Jakha, who built his fort and town in the quarter of Dharanagari and took residence there. Today, the area is popularly called as Narwal. Bahu-Narwal and Dharanagri formed one town, and Satti, Baluhara (Paluhara), Khor and Khour Khas were among the quarters of the city, as cited in Rajadarshani.
Dhangri Nagri: According to local histories, the Dhangri Nagri, located on Tawi’s bank, and presently on Kalakot Rajouri road opposite Muradpur, Rajouri, was invaded by Mohammad Tuglak (r.1325 -1351). The next attack was on Khasa Raja Ramchand Chanchwal/Janjwal’s (DograJhanjhwal) kingdom, and then Deval, which is southwest of Gulabgarh, was also attacked.
Ratanagiri: A city, yet to be identified, is said to have been built in Darva country by Queen Ratnaprabha, the wife of Kashmiri king Jaisimha of the second Lohara dynasty (1128 – 1155 CE). “In Darvva, she built a town like the city of Indra and named it after her name. It contained a beautiful and grand house befitting a king. The queen who was kind towards her dependents built various monuments consecrated to the memory of the great, the honoured and the principal men who were dead,” as cited in Rajatarangini.
Cultural Memory & Folklore: The presence of the lost places in Dogri songs, oral traditions, and folk tales keeps their memory alive, even when archaeological evidence may be sparse. This makes an ethno-historical approach particularly valuable, where oral histories and textual records meet.

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