SIKH EMPIRE -ANANDGHAR

MISAL

VS 1841AD 1784

Rare mint mark

AHAD (YEAR ONE)

DYOR

COIN AS IN SCAN

(Over 5different Mintmarks/symbols known)

ANANDGARH.

Anandgarh was the fort situated in the town of Anandpur (31-14'N. 76-31 E.) in the Hoshiapur district of the Punjab, on the left bank of the Sutlej river.

Anandpur is said to have been founded by Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Guru (AD 1664-75).

Tegh Bahadurs' right to succeed Hari Krishen as Guru was contended by several other claimants, at least one ef when sought to assassinate him. To escape them he bought a hillock near the village of Makhawal (5 miles north of Kiratpur), and built bimself a village which he optimistically named Anandpur (haven of rest). Govind Singh, Tegh

fortified the centre of Anandpur and the neighbouring land with a series of forts: Anandgarh, Keahgarh, Logarh and Fatehgarh. Anandpur became Govind Singh’s stronghold but he suffered a defeat there by the troops of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. The town was later the headquarters of a branch of the Sodhis; descendents of Ram Das (the fourth Guru), and the centre of the Nihang sect of Sikhs.* In the 19th century the town was the location for a great annual religious fair.