Rampur Bushahr is a town and a
municipal council
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural council ...
in
Shimla district in the
Indian
state of
Himachal Pradesh. It is about 130 km from Shimla and is well connected with
NH 5 which passes through
Theog
Theog is a town and a municipal committee as well as a tehsil in Shimla district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It's just 26 km from state capital Shimla. First settlements were in 1902.
Demographics/History
India census, Theog ...
,
Narkanda and
Kumarsain
Kumarsain (; ), also known as Kumharsain, is a sub-division, a tehsil and a village in Shimla District in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Formerly under the British Raj, it was the capital of princely state of Kumharsain, which was o ...
.
History
The principality of
Bushahr (also known as Bashahar, Bushahar, Bashahr) was once among the largest of the twenty-eight Shimla Hill States under the administration of the
British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
keen to invest on regional and transcontinental trade and exploit Himalayan resources. Caught in one of the British imperial enterprise, it was subjected to political-cum-economic vicissitudes, acceding to the Indian Union in 1947. On 8 March 1948, along with twenty other princely hill States of Punjab and Shimla, Bashahr signed an agreement which resulted in its inclusion in the Indian State of Himachal Pradesh.
Rampur, a small township situated at 1,005 meters on the left bank of the
Sutlej
The Sutlej or Satluj River () is the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroads region of Punjab in northern India and Pakistan. The Sutlej River is also known as ''Satadru''. It is the easternmost tributary of the Ind ...
, served as Bushahar's winter capital. Being well connected with major trading routes that joined Indian markets with
Central Asia and Tibet, it buzzed with mercantile activity, especially in November during the Lavi fair, the largest trading event in the north Himalayas attracting traders from
Kashmir, Ladakh, Yarkand, and the Indian mainland. Concerning the origins of the Rampuri fair, the Census of India (1961) reports:
"''About three hundred years ago during the regime of Raja Kehar Singh of Bushahr, a trade treaty was signed between the Bushahr State and Tibet…Horses from Tibet and swords from Bushahr were exchanged in token of this friendship. It was written in the treaty that their friendly relations would continue till this time…Since then, it is presumed that trade relations increased and eventually
heLavi fair was held.''"
Rampur was also located along pilgrimage routes to sacred sites in western Tibet shared by Hindus, Bön and Buddhists alike, i.e.,
Mount Kailash and Lake
Mansarovar
Lake Manasarovar (Sanskrit: मानसरोवर), also called Mapam Yutso (;) locally, is a high altitude freshwater lake fed by the Kailash Glaciers near Mount Kailash in Burang County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. T ...
. Missionary and pilgrimage activities, intensified by trading possibilities, created the conditions for Tibetan Buddhism to take a firm stronghold in these borderland regions. Twenty-two kilometres from the village of Namgya in upper Kinnaur, laid the Shipki pass which linked caravan routes to and from western
Tibet. This treacherous transcontinental passage must have been in use from ancient times, for among the ruined castles reported by Francke at Shipki village, there were no living memories of the origins of mKar gog, the oldest of them built above the village in cyclopean style. Rampur also has Hydro Power Stations namely, Nathpa Jhakri Power Station (1500 MW) and Rampur Hydro Power Station (412 MW) by SJVN Ltd. A second castle, known as Seng ge mkhar, is said to have received its crooked ground plan “through a race round its base executed in opposite directions by a poisonous snake and a scorpion,” and was built, in all probability, during the Ladakhi occupation of mNga’ ris by orders of King Seng ge rnam rgyal (1570–1642) and called after him.
Geography
Rampur is located at .
Falling Rain Genomics, Inc - Rampur
/ref> It has an average elevation of 1021 metres (4429 feet
The foot ( : feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg made ...
). It is a very beautiful place situated at the bank of the Satluj river. It borders on the north with Spiti
Spiti (pronounced as Piti in Bhoti language) is a high-altitude region of the Himalayas, located in the north-eastern part of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The name "Spiti" means "The middle land", i.e. the land between Tib ...
, on the west with Kumarsain
Kumarsain (; ), also known as Kumharsain, is a sub-division, a tehsil and a village in Shimla District in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Formerly under the British Raj, it was the capital of princely state of Kumharsain, which was o ...
and Anni, on the east with Kinnaur
Kinnaur is one of the twelve administrative districts of the state of Himachal Pradesh in northern India. The district is divided into three administrative areas (Kalpa, Nichar (Bhabanagar), and Pooh) and has six tehsils. The administrative ...
and on the south with Rohru
Rohru is a town and a municipal committee in Shimla district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It is at the banks of the Pabbar River, and it is about 115 km from Shimla
Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, the official name unti ...
. The city is nearby to popular places like Jhakri, Sarahan Bushahr, Green valley Dhar Gaura and Shraikoti to name a few. The city is also the home to Asia's Largest underground Hydro Power Project - The Nathpa Jhakri Hydro Power Station built by Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (formerly known as Nathpa Jhakri Power Corporation) at Jhakri with dam sight at nathpa in Kinnaur
Kinnaur is one of the twelve administrative districts of the state of Himachal Pradesh in northern India. The district is divided into three administrative areas (Kalpa, Nichar (Bhabanagar), and Pooh) and has six tehsils. The administrative ...
and world's deepest Surge shaft at a Shah (22 km from Rampur).
See also
* Rampur chaddar
* Lavi Fair
* Govt. PG College Rampur Bushahr
* Bushahr
References
External links
* Photographs of Rampur-Bushah
in SAS-Space
{{Authority control
Cities and towns in Shimla district