Guler State
| Guler State | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kingdom | |||||||||
| 1247–1813 | |||||||||
Detail of the territory of Guler from a map of the various Hill States of the Punjab Hills region, copied in 1852 | |||||||||
| Capital | Haripur Guler | ||||||||
| Area | |||||||||
• | 65 km2 (25 sq mi) | ||||||||
| Government | |||||||||
| Mian/Raja | |||||||||
• 1247–1267(first) | Hari Chander | ||||||||
• 1790–1813(last) | Bhup Singh | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Foundation of the state | 1247 | ||||||||
• Annexation by the Sikh Empire | 1813 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Himachal Pradesh, India | ||||||||
Guler was a minor kingdom in the Lower Himalayas. Its capital was the town of Haripur Guler, in modern-day Himachal Pradesh. The kingdom was founded in 1415 by Raja Hari Chand, a scion of the ancient royal family of Kangra. The etymology of the word Guler can be traced to the word Gwalior, meaning the abode of cowherds. One of the foremost schools of Pahari miniatures is named after this small principality.
Guler State is famous as the birthplace of Kangra painting when in the first half of the 18th century, a family of Kashmiri painters trained in the Mughal painting style sought shelter at the court of Raja Dalip Singh (r. 1695–1741) of Guler. The rise of Guler Paintings or Guler style started what is known as the early phase of Kangra art.