Coronation At A 2,350 Year Old Dynasty

The coronation ceremony of Maharaja Aishwarya Dev Chand Katoch of Kangra, scion of one of the world's oldest dynasties, was an opulent affair

- Priya Kumari Rana

THE MONUMENT is ready for a royal celebration — the Raj Tilak (coronation) of a Katoch king. The Kangra fort — which has been mentioned in the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, as well as by Ptolemy in his writings on Macedonian king Alexander the Great, is the oldest and grandest fort in the Himalayas, 20 km from Dharamshala, in Himachal Pradesh. After climbing the 250-odd stone steps of the fort — 2,500 ft above sea level — through the arched Jahangir Darwaza, one reaches a small courtyard adjacent to the Ambika Devi temple, filled with guests from all over India — members of the Katoch family as well as descendants of royal families from Jodhpur, Rampur, Odisha and Jharkhand.

The actual ‘coronation’ or Raj Tilak is very simple — a tika of blood drawn from the thumb of a relative of the newly crowned Maharaja — the 52-year-old Mayo College-educated Aishwarya Dev Chand Katoch of Kangra-Lambagraon, the 489th descendant of Rajanaka Bhuma Chand, who founded the Katoch dynasty (one of the oldest in the world) around 2,350 years ago, followed by a tilak of red kumkum. Aishwarya, wearing a brand-new Himachali style velour choga (long jacket), and carrying a sword, looks resplendent in a new polki diamond necklace and sirpech (a brooch adorning the turban), as his wife Shailja and son Ambikeshwar flank him on both sides, surrounded by pundits.