Kulu Tahsil, 1908
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.
Kulu Tahsil
Tahsil in the Kulu subdivision of Kangra District, Punjab, lying between 31° 50' and 32° 26' N. and 76° 56' and 77° 33' E., with an area of 1,054 square miles. The population in 190 1 was 68,954, compared with 64,630 in 1891, It contains 42 villages, including Nagar, the head-quarters of the subdivision, and Sultanpur, the Tahsil head-quarters. The land revenue and cesses in 1903-4 amounted to Rs. 82,000.
The tahsil nominally includes the waziris of Lahul- and Spiti. Kulu proper is divided into four 7vaziris — Parol, Lag Sari, Lag Maharaja, and Rupi — all lying in the upper basin of the Beas, The Beas basin is enclosed by very high mountain ranges, those which separate it from the Spiti, Chenab, and Ravi valleys having a mean elevation of 18,000 feet. The lower range, which separates it from the Sutlej valley, lies in the Saraj Tahsil. The Beas rises in the north of Kulu proper at the crest of the Rohtang pass, 13,326 feet above the sea, and after a course of 60 miles enters Mandl State at an elevation of 3,000 feet ; its chief tributaries are the Parbati, Sainj, and Tirthan, whose valleys comprise the greater part of the eastern half of the tract. The Beas is bridged by the Duff Dunbar steel-rope suspension bridge at Shamsi, by another suspension bridge between Larji and Bujaura, and by wooden cantilever bridges (sdnghas) at five other places.
Its course presents a succession of magnificent scenery, including cataracts, gorges, precipitous cliffs, and mountains clad with forests of pine, towering above the tiers of deodar on the lower rocky ledges. Of the total area of Kulu proper, the cultivated portion amounts to only 60 square miles, and the rest is forest and desolate mountain waste above the limit of tree growth. The highest villages are not more than 9,000 feet above the sea, and the average elevation of the cultivated and inhabited parts is about 5,000 feet. The annual rainfall varies from 31 to 42 inches; in winter the ground is covered with snow for days or months together according to its situation, though snow does not usually lie long at heights of less than 6,000 feet ; 55 feet of snow have been measured on the Sirikand pass (15,000 feet), but the Dulchi pass, over which lies the main road to Kangra, is generally open all the year round.
The little principality of KuhT formed one of the eleven original Rajput States between the Ravi and the Sutlej, and probably belonged to some of the minor Katoch dynasties, offshoots from the great king- dom of JuLLUNDUR. Hiuen Tsiang, the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, visited it in the seventh century ; and local legends preserve the names of eighty-seven princes who ruled successively in this remote moun- tain valley. Authentic history, however, first recognizes Kulu in the fifteenth century, when Raja Sudh Singh, whom tradition places seventy-fourth in descent from the original founder of the dynasty, ascended the throne.
His descendants ruled the valley till the beginning of the nineteenth century, their annals being wholly confined to the usual Indian record of court intrigues, assassinations, and dynastic quarrels. When the Gurkhas broke out from their home in Nepal, and conquered all the country up to the banks of the Sutlej, they found Bikrama Singh upon the throne of Kulu. Like the other neighbouring chieftains, Bikrama Singh paid tribute to the invaders for his cis-Sutlej territory, as well as to Sansar C^hand, the Katoch prince of Kangr.a, for Kulu itself. In 1809, however, RanjTt Singh, called in by Sansar Chand, made himself master of the hills, and levied tribute from the young Raja of Kulu, Ajit Singh, an illegitimate son of Bikrama Singh. Three years later, the Sikhs demanded an annual payment of Rs. 50,000, and, on the Raja's refusal, marched upon his capital of Sultanpur and sacked his palace.
AjIt Singh at length bribed the Sikhs to withdraw, by paying them all the money he could collect. After the expulsion of the Gurkhas, the Raja became a feudatory of the British for the cis-Sutlej tract. Tn 1840 General Ventura led a Sikh force against the neighbouring State of Mandl, after conquering which, one of his lieutenants attacked Kulu, on the pretext of hostile dispositions. The Raja made no resistance, and allowed himself to be taken prisoner ; but the brutal discourtesy shown him by his captors roused the hereditary loyalty of the hillmen. A secret muster took place; and as the invaders marched out of Saraj by the Basleo pass, the hillmen fell upon them in a narrow ravine, rescued their prince, and massacred the Sikhs almost to a man.
Ajit Singh retired across the Sutlej to his fief of Shangri, which he had held from the British Government since the expulsion of the Gurkhas, and so placed himself beyond reach of vengeance from Lahore. A Sikh army soon after marched into Saraj, but found it completely deserted, the inhabitants having fled into the inaccessible forests on the mountain-sides. Accordingly the Sikhs handed over the country in farm to the Raja of Mandl, leaving a garrison in Kulu to enforce their supremacy. AjTt Singh died at Shangri in 1841 : and the Sikhs made over waztri Rupi to his first cousin, Thakur Singh, while Shangri remained in the hands of another relative.
In 1846, at the close of the first Sikh War, the Jullundur Doab, with the adjoining Hill States, passed into the power of the British ; and Kulu, with Lahul and Spiti, became a Tahsil of the new Kangra District. Government confirmed Thakur Singh in his title of Raja, and gave him sovereign powers within waziri Rupi. On his death in 1852, his son, Gyan Singh, of doubtful legitimacy, obtained the inferior title of Rai, with half the land and no political powers. The resumed half has since been restored, with certain reservations in favour of Government. In 1892 the present Rai, Megh Singh, succeeded to the jcigir of Rupi, with some modifications. The Rai is an honorary magistrate and Munsif in his jagir.
