Lahul
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
LahuL
Himalayan waziri or canton of the Kulu subdivision of Kangra District, Punjab, lying between 32° 8^ and 32° 59' N. and 76° 49' and 77^^ 47" E., with an area of 2,255 square miles. The population (1901) is only 7,205, or less than 4 persons per square mile. It is separated from Kangra and Kulu proper on the south, and from Spiti on the east, by two mountain ranges which give off southwards the Beas and Ravi and eastwards the Spiti river, a tributary of the Sutlej ; they culminate at their junction in the Shurgan Tunga or Deo-Tibba peak (21,000 feet). On the north Lahul is bounded by the Ladakh province of Kashmir, and on the west by Chamba State.
The Chandra and Bhaga streams rise on the Bara Lacha, or pass, (16,500 feet) in the north, and, flowing at first in almost opposite directions, unite at Tandi, whence the combined waters of the Chandra-Bhaga or Chenab flow into Chamba. Between the two rivers, an isolated mass of mountains attains still greater dimensions, consisting of one almost unbroken ice- field, with, at rare intervals, impassable barriers of naked rock. South of the highest peak, 21,415 feet above the sea, a glacier stretches downward for 12 miles; while east and west the hills, though slightly inferior in elevation, still reach the limits of the snow-line, and flank the valley on every side, except along the narrow outlet of the Chenab.
In such a waste of rock and ice, villages can be planted only in a few comparatively favoured spots, among the lower valleys of the Chandra and Bhaga, from Old Koksar on the former to Darcha on the latter river. The remainder of Lahul is entirely uninhabited, except for a few weeks in summer, when the Kangra shepherds bring up their flocks for pasturage. Picturesque knots of houses, however, nestle here and there in sheltered nooks, amid green irrigated fields made beautiful by the exquisite Himalayan flora. The summer is almost rainless, but there is heavy snowfall in winter, the whole country being covered from December to April. The mean temperature at Kardang in the valley of the Bhaga is 29° in December and 59° in June. The inhabi- tants of the valleys of the Chandra and Bhaga are Buddhists, and of that of the united Chandra-Bhaga Hindus. The inhabited portions of the Lahul valley have an estimated elevation of 10,000 feet above sea-level. Kangser, the highest village, stands at a height of 11,345 feet. The principal villages are Kyelang and Kardang on opposite sides of the Bhaga, on the trade route between the Rohtang pass from Kulu and the Bara Lacha leading into Ladakh.
The Lahul valley is mentioned as early as the seventh century in the itinerary of Hiuen Tsiang, the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, who notices it under the name of Lo-hu-lo, as a district lying north-east of Kulu. In the earliest times, it probably formed a dependency of the Tibetan kingdom ; and on the disruption of that kingdom in the tenth century, it seems to have been included in the principality of Ladakh. We have no information to show the period at which it became independent, though reasons have been adduced for believing that that event pre- ceded the reorganization of Ladakh about 1580. An epoch of native rule under petty chiefs (Thakurs) ensued, during which the various local families appear to have paid tribute to Chamba. Four or five of these families have survived to the present day, and are still in posses- sion of their original territories, which they hold mjdglr, subject to the payment of tribute or nazardna.
About the year 1700, the supremacy passed to Kulu, in the reign of Budh Singh, son of Raja Jagat Singh, a contemporary of Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb. Thenceforward, Lahul followed the fortunes of Kulu, until they passed together under British rule in 1846. Out of a total area of 2,255 square miles, less than 5 square miles are returned as under cultivation. Barley forms the principal crop, but wheat grows in the lower glens.
Cultivation depends entirely on small irrigation canals, constructed and kept in repair by the village landowners. The grain produced does not suffice for local consumption, being supplemented by imports from Kulu. The Lahulis hold in their hands the trade between Ladakh and Central Asia on the one hand, and Kulu and the Punjab on the other. Collecting the merchandise from the north at Patseo, a few miles north of Darcha, where a large encampment of traders from Ladakh, Central Asia, Tibet, and Kulu is formed, they pass annually into Kulu at the end of summer, driving their ponies and donkeys, goats and sheep, laden with pashm or shawl-wool, borax, and cloth ; while on their return journey they bring metal vessels, sugar, rice, wheat, tobacco, pepper, ginger, and turmeric.
The LahulTs keep only a few sheep and goats, as the snow lies too long and too deep in the winter for the flocks to live out of doors as they do in Ladakh. For a \ery long time, therefore, the upper ends of the main valleys, which are uninhabited, and the grounds high above the villages in the inhabited parts, have been utilized by the shepherds of Kangra, Chamba, and Kulu. The snow begins to disappear in these places about the beginning of June ; the shepherds do not ordinarily enter Lahul before the end of that month, and they leave it again early in September, by which time the frost is keen, and the rainy season in the Outer Himalayas has come to an end. In the fine dry climate of Lahul the sheep escape foot-rot and other diseases which constantly attack flocks kept during the rains on the southern slopes of the Outer Himalayas. The sheep arrive wretchedly thin, but by the time they are ready to leave are in splendid condition.
Lahul is administered by the Assistant Commissioner of Kulu, under whom Thakur Amar Chand, a descendant of one of the old rulers and a magistrate of the second class and a Munsif, exercises consider- able local influence. The land revenue, as reassessed in 1891, amounts to Rs. 4,916.
