Paddar

Paddar lies along the Chenab in the Great Himalayas, between Zanskar to the north and Pangi to the south. Its mountain country contains smaller valleys such as Machail and Gandhari and is known for its sapphire deposits. Manuscripts in the Sharada script have been found in the region, which was long connected with Kashmir.

Local chiefs called ranas governed the villages of Paddar, each usually holding one to three villages and sometimes fighting neighbours over land. By the middle of the seventeenth century Rana Sheetal Singh held the valley from the village of Leondi, but he was defeated by the Raja of Chamba, whose successors ruled Paddar for generations. In 1836 Zorawar Singh defeated the Chamba forces and annexed the valley to Kishtwar.