The Lavi Fair or Lavi Mela, officially known as International Lavi Fair, is fundamentally a trade fair held at

Rampur Bushahr Rampur Bushahr is a town and a municipal 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, Narkanda and Kumarsain. History ...

Shimla district Shimla district, known as Simla district until 1972, is one of the twelve districts of the state of Himachal Pradesh in northern India. Its headquarters is the state capital of Shimla. Neighbouring districts are Mandi and Kullu in the north, ...

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...

. The main attraction is the cultural night function starts from 11 to 14 November in PGSS Boys' School. While the trade fair runs throughout November in Part Bungalow. This fair is the outcome of signing of the trade treaty between the erstwhile Bushahr state and

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

in the end of the 17th century (1679-1684). Historically, it is an important commercial fair and is attended by tourists from all over the world. It is the most significant trade and commercial fair ( Mela) of

Shimla Shimla, also known as Simla ( the official name until 1972), is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared the summer capital of British India. After independence, the city ...

as well as of

Etymology

The word Lavi is derived from the word ''Loe'' which means "a sheet of woolen cloth". Another meaning of Lavi is "shearing of the sheep". These word meaning clearly indicates the trade of something woolen or sheep.

History

Lavi once served as a major trading centre and the stopover point on the old trade routes that led to Kinnaur,

Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory and constitutes an eastern portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a Kashmir#Kashmir dispute, dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947 and India an ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. The fair that takes place there also finds a mention in the records of the erstwhile state of

Bushahr Bushahr, also spelt as 'Bashahr' and 'Bussahir' or 'Bushair' was a Rajput princely state in India during the British Raj. It was located in the hilly western Himalaya promontory bordering Tibet. Bushahar was eighty four miles long, sixty two ...

. The Lavi fair started after trading treaty between the Hindu Raja of

, Kehri Singh (1639-1696), and the government of (Tibet)

Lhasa Lhasa, officially the Chengguan District of Lhasa City, is the inner urban district of Lhasa (city), Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region, Southwestern China. Lhasa is the second most populous urban area on the Tibetan Plateau after Xining ...

(dGa' ldan pho brang) headed by Bio bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama (1617-1682). Historical ties between Tibet and Bushahr go back to at least the 17th century, when the princely ruler of Bushahr, Kehri Singh, sided in 1679 with the Mongol commander dGa' ldan tshe dbang on a Tibetan-Mongol punitive expedition against the Kingdom of Ladakh. The result of their mutual cooperation during the war was a sworn agreement stipulating that no taxes be levied on Bushahri and Tibetan merchants when trading on each others' territories, an official delegation from Bushahr should be sent tri-annually to the towns of Tsaparang, Purang, Dawa, Ruthog and Gartok in western Tibet. For the small Himalayan state of

, the Tibet-Bashahr treaty of 1679-1684 was undoubtedly of great economic importance. Historical documents, testify that tax-free commerce between Tibetans and Bushaharis should be observed in perpetuity. Similarly, the Kinnauri oral tradition preserves the formulaic expression that the treaty was meant to last until the "

Sutlej The Sutlej River or the Satluj River is a major river in Asia, flowing through China, India and Pakistan, and is the longest of the five major rivers of the Punjab region. It is also known as ''Satadru''; and is the easternmost tributary of t ...

goes dry, crows become white, horses get horns, and stones - stated to be at the borders of both the States and on which the treaty was written - produce hair or wool". Concerning the origins of Lavi Fair of Rampur Bushahr, the Census of India (1961) reports: In earlier time, traders from

and

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

used to do business at the International Lavi Fair. They used to come here especially with horses including dry fruit,

wool Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...

, pashmin and

sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...

. In return, traders used to take

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

jaggery Jaggery is a List of unrefined sweeteners, traditional non-centrifugal cane sugar consumed in the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, North America, Central America, Brazil and Africa. It is a concentrated product of Sugarcane juice, cane jui ...

and other rations from Rampur. This salt was brought from Gumma in

Mandi district Mandi district is one of the central districts of Himachal Pradesh state in northern India. The town of Mandi is the headquarters of the district. The main native language is Mandeali. As of 2011, it is the second most populous district of ...

. ''Chaumukhi'' (also called ''Chamurthy'') horses were also traded at the Lavi Fair.

References

{{reflist Fair trade Culture of Himachal Pradesh Shimla district Trade fairs in India