Glimpse of Himachal Pradesh

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GLIMPSE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH “DEV BHUMI”Endowed with the inherent spirit of being theson of soil “ amidst sprinkling communities andbelonging to Nepali-origin of Himachal it wasmy earnest desire to know and write aboutHimachal Pradesh to further disseminateinformations to like-minded people. Hence, theoutcome is this article though in brief, whichmay benefit people in the long run and pennedby an amateur writer, by continued researchingon the subject about collating availablematerials and locals feed back.

Rivers - Five rivers flow though the Pradesh. The eastern most river is Yamuna which rises fromYamunotri in Garhwal range of the Himalayas and forms the eastern boundary with Uttranchal. Itsimportantibutaries are Tons, Pabar and Giri or Giri Ganga. The Pabar rises from Chander-NahanLake or the Chanshal peak in Rohru and the Giri from Kupar peak just above Jubbal town.

India's border with Tibet. It is bound between 30 22 to 33 12'north latitude and 75 47 to 79 4 east longitude. The territory isalmost wholly mountainous with altitudes ranging between 350 to700 meter above the sea level. It has deeply dissected topographycomplex geological structure and a rich temperate flora is Sub-tropical altitudes. Physiographically the state can he decidedinto Alpine regions, outer Himachal, mid mountain and theGreater Himachal. The annual rainfall in the first region variesform 1500mm to 1800mm. The rich and fertile valleys of Kangra,Balh and Paonta are Located in this region. The rainfall in thesecond region varies annually from 700mm to 1000mm. Thisunder snow for about five to six month in a year. The averageannual rainfall of Himachal Pradesh is 1600mm. The southernpart of Himachal Pradesh is almost as hot as the plains, while thenorthern region has a temperate summer and a winter withextreme cold and heavy snowfall.

Understand Himachal known as 'Dev Bhumi' to the ancients is situated in the heart of WesternHimachal. To the West lies the state of jammu & Kashmir, Uttranchal in the South-East, Haryana onthe South and Punjab in the East, whereas on the east it from

The sutlej the largest among the five rivers of HimachalPradesh, originates beyond the Indian borders in thesouthern slopes of the Kailash Mountain, 'lord Shiva'abode in Puranic lore. After flowing about 320 kilometersfrom Rakastal, it enters the eastern part of HimachalPradesh at shipki (altitudesmeters ) Between the Zankarand the greater Himalaya crossing to Sutlej river, the Spitifrom the north-west In kinnaur, it is joined by belowRampur – Bushahr, it is joined by Nogli stream. Flowingthrough Kinnaur, Shimla Hills and Bilaspur District itleaves Himachal Pradesh to enter the plains of Punjab atBhakra, where one of the world largestoms has beenconstructed. As a result of this dam, a very big lake knownis Govind Sagar, has been formed in the valley of Bilaspur.Govind Sagar is fast becoming for fishing and boating.

Yamuna at yamunotri

Sutlej river

GLIMPSE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH&“DEV BHUMI” - R.S. Gurung


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Most of the rivers of Himachal Pradesh are snow-fed. During the monsoons, they becomeraging torrents carrying enormous quantity of water and in winter snow hardens into ice and watergets frog eat the higher altitude they shrink into smaller sizes though remain indomitable.

There are innumerable lakes in Chamba district, Kangra, Mandi district, Kullu, Kinnaur, Lahi,Spiti district Bilaspur.

The Beas, which forms the world famous Valleysof Kullu and Kangra, rises from the 3,978 meters highRohtang Pass. The main course of this river issouthward to Larji and then to the west. Its maintributaries east are Parbtia,spir and Malana, nala andin the west solang, Sujoin, Phojal and sarvari streams.At Bajaura, it enters Mandi district. Mandi town issituated on its left bank. In Mandi district its ownnorthern feeders are Uhal, Rani and Bina and thesouthern are Hansa, Tir than, Bakhli, jiuni, Surketi,Panodi, Son and Bather. It enters Kangra district atSandho. In Kangra district, it is joined by Birwa,Neogal, Banganga, Gaj, Dehar and Chakki from thenorth and Kunah and Man from the south. The Beas river

The 'Ravi' river rises from an amphi theaterlike basin called Bara-Bhangal a branch ofDhauladhar. It first westward though a troughseparating the Pir Panjal from Dhaula Dhar, cuttinga deep gorge though the latter range, there-after itenters Chamba district and after flowing for about130 kilometers through this region finally leaves at'Kheri'. During its course from Bara-Bangal to theplace where it leaves Himachal Pradesh to enterPunjab, it receives several streams from theadjoining areas. The Left bank tributaries are not soimportant except one, the Chirchind nala nearChhatrari which rise from he northern slopes ofDhaulaDhar. The right bank tributaries are ofconsiderable importance. A few worth mentioningare Budhil, Tundah-Beljadi, Saho or Sal and SiulChamba town the ancient capital of Chamba districtsituated on the right bank of Ravi.

The fifth and the last river is'Chandrabhanga' of Chenab. TheChandra and the Bhaga streams riseon the opposite sides of the Balachabars at an elevation of 4,891 Meters,the Chandra on the south-east, theBhaga on the north-west. Theserivulets unite at Tandi (2,28 Meters) tofrom one river of great siege andvolume, which flow immediatelyparallel to the north of this mid-Himalayan range. A Little beyondBhujind, it enters Pangi valley ofChamba district. After flowing thoughthe Pangi Valley, it Leaves the districtat Sansari nala and enters PadarValley of Kashmir and the interlard ofKishtwar.

Ravi river

Chandrabhanga river

northern and eastern tributaries of the Beas are snow-fed and perennial, while the southern areseasonal During the monsoon in the month of August, its inflow increases greatly and sometimesresult in floods. The river leaves this district near Mirthal. At Pandoh in Mandi district the waters ofthe Beas have today been diverted to sutlej through a big tunnel.



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They from Lowest strata of the hill society. These people are ordinarily short in stature and darkin complexion. It is possible that they came from original stock of kols. They are of non-Aryan origin butby inter caste marriages a great social inter-fusion has taken place, a process which is sill going on.This doubtless has led, in course of time, to many changes in appearance and characteristics of thepeople and to these we may ascribe the fact that they exhibit traces of features of Aryan race and usewords of the dialects of the Aryan family Kolis, Dumnas and Meghas are the only castes having ofethnological character, but many of the other castes are now distinguished by their occupational nameswhich my also have spring up from the same source as Kolis. The Trigarta, Kuluta, Shatadru andSarungana acknowledged his supremacy.

After the break up of Harsha's empire there was a great political upheaval in the plains of India.A new class called the Rajputs, appeared on the scene. This class was very adventurous. In Indianhistory the period of 400 years from eight century to twelfth century is called the Rajput period. Theyfounded many principalities in India. Some of the adventurous princes and their kins with theirfollowers penetrated into the Central and Western Himalayan valleys. They were clever and succeededin subduing the local barons called Ranas and Thakurs to establish their own principalities and alsoencouraged other Rajputs and Brahmans of the plains to settle in their kingdoms. The Rajputs from theplains were also invited to join the forces against Local people. Right from the sixth Century to thefifteenth century there was a constant inflows of these Rajput tribes. They founded several small statesfrom the Duns to the lesser Himalayas and states after beyond to higher Himalayas : Among them wereTrigarata, Kullu, Chamba , Nurpur, Suket, Mandi, Bilaspur, Bushahr, Jubbal, Keonthal, Baghat, Baghal,Sirmur and a score of other small states.

Trigarta (Kangra) was the oldest among the hill states. It was founded by Susharma Chandra atthe conclusion the Mahabharta war. On account of constant inroads of invading hordes from the north-west, the Kangra Rajas shifted their capital from Jalandhar to Nagarkot in the hills in 1070 A.D. Withthe passage of time the Trigaita-Kangra kingdom Split into smaller principalities like-Jaswan, Guler,Siba and Datarpur.

The second oldest state was Kullu. Archaeological finding place this state back into the 1st orsecond century A.D. The founder of the new dynasty of Kullu was Behagmani.

A Normand copper plate of the 6th century states that at that time Spiti was ruled by a HinduRaja, 'Samandra Sen’. In the upper Sutlej valley Bushahr was the oldest state probably founded beforethe Christian era by one 'Pradhuman'. Chamba was founded by Maru Varman in the middle of the 6thcentury. Suket was established by 'Vir Sen' and Keonthal by his brother' Gir Sen' in the 12th century.Mandi was the off shoot of Suket and came into existence in 1526 A.D.

Ancient Sirm-ur principality was probably founded some time in the 6th or 7th century A.D. by aRathor prince (Adit). At the end of the 12th century (C. 1195 A.D.) a heavy flood in Giri rivercompletely.

Over such a vast area that it was not limited to a city state but extended over a vast and unitedempire. Far from citadel of the Indus valley, the races inhabiting the Himalayan hills were Kols (Proto-Australoid).

Discovery of stone implements by the anthropologists andarchaeologists in the Banganga-Beas valley of Kangra, Sirsa-sutlej valley ofNalagarh-Bilaspur and Makanda of Simaur is a sure evidence of theexistence of Himachal Pradesh. These sources do not yet help to determineas to who were those pre-historic inhabitants. It appears that the aboriginesof these hills are represented by various scheduled castes and tribes whichfrom considerable part of the population. These people are represented bysuch castes as kolis, Halis, Chamars, Rehars, Chanals, Lohars, Baris, Dagis,Dhakis, at Turis, etc.

The People

R.S. Gurung



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In Vedas, they have been called Dasas, Dasyu and Nishadas, etc. The Kols were the earliestinhabitant of the area, who are descendants of the Neolithic man in Himachal Pradesh. Perhaps theKolis Halis and dums of Western Himalaya and Chamars and Domanas of Kinnaur Lahual and Spitiare the descendants of that very ancient race. During the Rig Vedic period, they were the masters ofhills and according to Rig-Veda their strong king Shambra had ninetynine strong forts in the hillsbetween Beas and Yamuna rivers. In the same period, more powerful people, the Khashas an off-shootof the Aryan race entered the racial arena of Himachal Pradesh. When the Aryan left their CentralAsian home, one of their branches crossed the Pamir to enter Kashmir and then slowly and steadilymoved forward in the middle belt of the Himalayan ranges. They subjugated and subdued theaboriginals and established their colonies in the hills from Kashmir to Nepal.

They become the new new masters of the land. They turned the Kinnaur-Kirat Desh into Khas-Desh. They assimilated these tribes and were in turn, influenced by them to give shape to a new socialstructure, which they settled permanently. They organized. Themselves into district societies based andvillage community system and they organized themselves into a Unitary group or circle; In every circleof number of circles, the members elected an individual from among themselves. They called him Movior Mavana, meaning a strongman, authorized to receive a tribute from his subjects. These MavanaThakurs incessantly fought with and plundered each other. The stronger mavanas subdued the weakerones and annexed their circles into their own. In this way the whole region was divided into small unitswhich also came to be called mavanas. Later on these Mavanas developed into a form of tribalrepublics popularly Known as Janapadas. According to *********and also as attested by Parime (5thcentury B.C.) the important Janapadas of this region were-Trigarta, Audumbara, Kuluta and Kalinda,etc. The existence of these Janapadas is further proved by the discovery of their coins in different partsof this region. The coins of Audambaras have been found in Pathankot, Jwalamukhi region of Kangraand Hoshiarpur. This shows that Audumbaras should have one time ruled over the area formed thatAudumbaras should have one time ruled over the area formed by Western part of the modern Kangradistrict, that is the Entire region of Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur districts, situated on the great route ofcommerce which ran from the Ganges plains to Tak-shila. Their popular leader was Dharaghosha. Henot only resisted the advance of indo greek power but also extended the boundaries of his republicupto Sutlej and even to the east of that river.

The Adumbaras issued copper and silver coins, issued in the name of the community and theking. These coins date from the first century B.C. and have legends in both brahmi and kharoshti. Theywere prosperous people.

The great Muryan empire builder, Chandra gupta (234-300 B.C.) negotiated and alliance withParvatkas (People of Himalaya). His grand son Ashoka extended his boundaries to the Himalayanregion and erected many stupas in this region. One of these stupas was in kullu valley about whichChinese traveler. Heien Tsang 9in India 630-644 A.D.) has made a mention his book “SI-Yu-Ki”Another Ashokan rock inscription of Kalsi on the confluence of Tons and Yamuna on Jaunsar-Bawarregion. Probably these tribal republics remained as the tributaries of mauryan empire.

After Mauryas, the Sungas (187-75 B.C) came to power. They could not keep these tribalrepublic under their ways. But the Kushanas (20-225 A.D.) who followed the Sungas established anextensive empire within and beyond India’s borders from central Asia to Mathura in the south andBanaras in the east. The Kushanas weakened the janapadas of Audambaras, Kulindas, kulutas etc. Onthe dissoulution of the Kushanas another power known as Guptas rose from east india. Their greatKings, Samudragupta (335-375 A.D.) and Chandragupta vikramaditya (375-414 A.D.) brought thisarea under their sway and some of the janapadas like madras, Audambaras, and kulindas disappearedfrom the scene and probably their areas formed a part of the great Gupta empire.

These republican states which flourished upto thre Gupta period of Indian History and of whichwe know from Panini, the puranas, Buddhist. Literature, Kautilya, Greek accounts and coins,disappeared in the 4th century A.D. for this perhaps, the imperial Guptas were mainly responsible,Again on the disruption of the Guptas empire in the 569 A.D. the petty local barons known as Ranasand Thakurs rose in power and became independent.Early in the seventh century in 606 A.D. Harshacame to power at thaneshwar. He established a very powerful empire in India, with his seat at kanauj.

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! R.S. Gurung


Glimpse of Himachal Pradesh

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