Pathankot

Pathankot stands at the northern edge of the Punjab plain, near the hills of Kangra. Coins of the ancient Audumbara kingdom have been found in the surrounding country, a region mentioned in the Mahabharata and in the work of the grammarian Panini. The Pathania Rajput clan takes its name from the town, also known as Paithan.

In the medieval period Pathankot was an early capital of the hill state later known as Nurpur. The Pathania rulers held the country between the Punjab plain and the hills until the expansion of Sikh power. Jai Singh Kanhaiya took Pathankot from them, and it was subsequently incorporated into the Punjab under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. His wife Moran lived in a fortress at Pathankot from 1811.