KANGRA AREA

Elphin-stone, who draws his account from Ferishta, described it as "enriched by the offerings of a long succession of Hindu princes and the depository of most of the wealth of the neighborhood." The treasure carried off by Mahmud is stated to have been 7,00,000 golden dinars, 700 mans of gold and silver plate, 200 mans of pure gold in ingots, 2,000 mans of unwrought silver, and 20 mans of jewels, including pearls, corals, diamonds and rubies.

Pilgrims largely resort to the shrine from the plains at the great festivals held in April and October. The old temple having been destroyed by the earthquake of 1905 it has been rebuilt by the Kangra Temple Restoration Committee with the aid of subscriptions raised throughout the country."

The temples of Masrur are rock-hewn shrines very common in Western and Southern India but practically unknown in the Himalayan region. The origin of these rock-cut temples at a height of 2,500 feet is rather shrouded in doubt. They are about twelve miles from Nagar Kot and were first noticed by a civilian officer H. L. Shuttleworth in 1913 and then surveyed by Mr. H. Hargreaves of Archaeological Survey in 1915-1916.

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