The Nandana Fortress of the Salt Range
Al-Beruni was a very well noted Persian Scholar from Khwarazm and known for his Travels and Writings on India as he came to India with Mahmud of Ghazni when he invaded the subcontinent. Al-Beruni stayed in India for many years and studied all facets of Indian science, philosophy and culture. Of course the fact that he knew Sanskrit among many other languages immensely helped.
During the course of his stay in India, he mentions a place where he stayed and it was a great center of learning. It was called Nandana and it was a Hill Fortress on the eastern most escrapement of the Salt Range. The Salt Range is some senses is the youngest Range of the Himalayan Complex and lies between the Jhelum and the Indus in Northern Punjab and includes the Potohar Plateau. This low Mountain Range is called so because of the great Salt deposits that are found in this Range and it is famous for. As such the Fortress was located on a strategic location overlooking what was called the Nandana Pass.
During the time of his stay here during 1017 onwards Al Beruni noted that Nandana was a great center of learning once upon a time. And it was from here that Al Beruni first used the knowledge of Maths, Geometry, Trigonometry and Algebra to figure out the circumference of the Earth and he calculated it to within 99% of the actual Circumference as we know today. This was indeed a remarkable achievement a thousand years back and the “Mountain” he used for his experiment was Nandana. Nandana was not only a protected Hill Fortress, it also had a Temple built by the Hindu Shahi King Jayapal. There were also other structures which probably served as study center. But of course they had been destroyed in the conquest of the Nandana Fort by Mahmud Ghazni.
The Salt range itself had a number of Temple Fortresses built by the last Hindu Kings to rule this area, the powerful Hindu Shahis. And among them were the sites at Malot, Kafirkot, Amb and other including Nandana. Nandana was named after the mythological Garden of Lord Indra. These Temples served as important places of Worship for many years till invaders from the West came in and overwhelmed the local Dynasties. Nandana gained importance when it became the Capital of the Shahis after they lost Waihind to Mahmud of Ghazni. Nandana was thus the last Capital of the Hindu Shahis. Now Ghazni turned his eyes on Nandana and marched on it and the Hindu Shahi ruler Trilochan Pal deputed his son Bhimpala to defend Nandana. A great Battle was fought and the Turks under Mahmud mined the walls of the Fort and blew them up. Bhimpala was defeated but he fled and joined his Father in Kashmir where they had taken refuge with their cousin, Singharaja of Kashmir.
After much deliberation a Kashmir Force led by the General Tunga and whatever remained of the Hindu Shahi forces decided to take on the forces of Mahmud. And it was again around Nandana that this great Battle was fought. This Battle has been described in great detail in Kalahana’s Rajatarangani, The History of Kashmir. The joint Kashmir and Hindu Shahi forces were annihilated by Mauhmud’s forces and this was the end of the Hindu Shahi dynasty. And all that is left behind this Dynasty is a legacy of crumbling Temples spread across the Salt Range. And so was the case with Nandana.
But Nandana was also witness to another epic struggle when the Mongol hordes led by Genghis Khan decided to go to war with the mighty Khwarezem Sultan (who was a Mamluk) when his Ambassadors were killed by the Sultan. The wrath of the Mongols fell on the large Khwarezem and they systematically conquered and annihilated. The Sultan’s son and main heir took on the Mongols and defeated them at the Battle of Parwan and subsequently decide to go towards India and sought help from his Mamluk cousins of the Delhi Sultanate.
The Mongols re-grouped and led by Genghis Khan himself decided to pursue him. And it was on the banks of the Indus that a great engagement was fought between the Mongols and the Sultan’s sons Army after the Mongols caught up with them. The Mongols dominated the proceedings but getting an opportune moment the Sultan’s son fled across the Indus. The Mongols are said to have pursued him and his men till the Fortress of Nandana and they now captured and held the Nandana Fortress.. The Sultan’s son made it to Delhi but the Mamluk Sultan Iltumish declined to help him due to his relationship with the Abbasid Caliphs. The Mongols also returned only to come back later but that's a different story.
Ironically the same Mongols would then turn on the Abbasid Caliphs and bring to an end the Islamic Golden Age.
Coming back to Nandana which saw it all in its present condition is in a pitiful state. Most structures have totally collapsed and its not even a pale shadow of its past. No one even remembers the significance of this desolate Temple on the top of a Hill. It is located Near Pindi Dadan Khan in Punjab, Pakistan.
All pics from the Internet. Mostly by Ali Usman Baig