Kalanaur

Kalanaur was an important town in the Punjab district later called Gurdaspur. Its place in the politics of the Delhi sultanate preceded its association with Akbar. The district gazetteer records a visit by Firuz Shah Tughluq in 1353. In the following century Jasrath Khokhar attacked the town twice, in 1422 and 1428; on the second occasion Malik Sikandar came to its relief and defeated him.

The town became the setting of a Mughal succession in 1556. After Humayun's death, Bairam Khan installed the young Akbar as emperor on 14 February on a raised masonry platform east of Kalanaur. A garden, baths and other buildings were associated with the site, giving a provincial town an imperial ceremonial setting. Its history therefore includes both the armed contests of the sultanate period and the beginning of a new Mughal reign. Kalanaur's political importance was rooted in Punjab itself, even though the accession held there would shape a much larger empire.