Bajreshwari Mata Temple

The Bajreshwari Mata Temple stands at Kangra, the hill fortress town of Nagarkot in the Punjab Himalayas, seat of the Katoch Rajput kings of Trigarta. Its goddess Vajreshwari, whose name means Lady of the Thunderbolt, is a fierce form of Durga who is said to have slain the demon Kalikala with a divine vajra.

The shrine is among the fifty-one Shakta Pithas, for tradition places the falling of Sati's left breast here. The temple, reputedly wealthy, drew pilgrims and plunderers: Mahmud of Ghazni is said to have sacked it in 1009, though Kangra fort was regarded as impregnable until the Mughal emperor Jahangir took it in 1622.

The Katoch rajas recovered the fortress after his death. Gurkha troops seized it in 1806, a Sikh-Katoch alliance retook it in 1809, and Ranjit Singh annexed Kangra in 1810.