Preliminary Evidence for a Possible Monastic Complex within the Kangra Fort, District Kangra, Himachal Pradesh.

This paper presents a preliminary archaeological assessment of Kangra Fort in District Kangra, Himachal Pradesh. While the Fort is identified as an ancient Fort and is traditionally attributed to a Katoch lineage, surface observations reveal ancient architectural features inconsistent with purely defensive construction. Through field observation, spatial analysis using QGIS, and comparative layout study with known Buddhist monasteries of north-western India, this study suggests that a portion of the Fort may represent a secondary occupation built over an earlier Buddhist monastic complex (vihāras). The evidence is based on layout geometry, spatial repetition of cells, and courtyard-centric planning.