History of Himachal Pradesh

The history of Himachal Pradesh dates back to the time when the Indus valley civilisation flourished.

Pre-historic and ancient Himachal

From the pre historic time it was inhabited by tribes like the "Koilis", "Halis", "Dagis", "Dhaugris", "Dasa", "Khasas", "Kinnars" and "Kirats". The Aryan influence in the region dates back to the period before the Rigveda.

As per the Hindu epic Mahabharata, the tract which forms the present day Himachal Pradesh was made up of number of small republics, namely "Janapadas" each of which constituted both a provincial and cultural unit.

Some evidences have been found that nearly 2 million years ago man lived in the foothills of Himachal Pradesh. "Bangana" valley of Kangra, "Sirsa" valley of Nalagarh and "Markanda" valley of Sirmour are found to be the places where prehistoric man used to live. The foothills of the state were inhabited by people from Indus valley civilization which flourished between the time period of 2250 and 1750 B.C.cite web
url = http://himachal.nic.in/tour/history.htm
title = History of Himachal
accessdate = 2006-10-26
publisher = Himachal Pradesh government ] .

Medieval history

In about 883 AD Sankar Varma, the ruler of Kashmir exercised his influence over Himachal Pradesh. The region also witnessed the invasion of Mahmud Ghazni in 1009 AD, who during that period looted the wealth from the temples in the North India. In 1043AD the Rajputs ruled over the territory. In 1773 AD the Rajputs under Katoch Maharaja Sansar Chand-II possessed the region, till the attack by Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the year 1804 which crushed the Rajput power.

The small kingdom enjoyed a large degree of independence till the eve of the Muslim invasions in northern India. The states of the foothills were devastated by Muslim brothers a number of times. Mahmud Ghaznavi conquered Kangra at the beginning of the 10th century. Timur and Sikander Lodi also marched through the lower hills of the state and captured a number of forts and fought many battles.
The "Gorkhas", a martial tribe came to power in Nepal in the year 1768. They consolidated their military power and began to expand their territory.

The Gurkhas who migrated from Nepal captured the area and devastated it . Gradually the Gorkhas annexed Sirmour and Shimla. With the leadership of Amar Singh Thapa, "Gorkhas" laid siege to Kangra. They managed to defeat Sansar Chand, the ruler of kangra, in 1806 with the help of many "provincial chiefs". However "Gorkhas" could not capture Kangra fort which came under Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1809.

However,Raja Ram Singh, Raja of Siba State re-capture the Siba fort after defeating the army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. After the defeat, the "Gorkhas" also began to expand towards the south of the state.

British period

This led in the "Anglo-Gorkha" war. They came into direct conflict with the British along the "tarai" belt after which the British expelled them from the provinces of the Satluj. Thus British gradually emerged as the paramount powers. In early 19th century the British annexed the areas of Shimla after the "Gurkha War of 1815-16." Himachal became a centrally administered territory in 1948 with the integration of 31 hill provinces and received additional regions in the year 1966.cite web
url = http://www.webindia123.com/himachal/history/history.htm
title = History of Himachal Pradesh
accessdate = 2007-04-28
publisher = Suni System (P) Ltd.]

The revolt of 1857 or the first Indian war of independence resulted due to the building up of political, social, economic, religious and military grievances against the British government. People of the hill states were not politically alive as the people in other parts of the country.cite web
url = http://www.himachalpradeshindia.com/history.html
title = History of Himachal Pradesh
accessdate = 2006-10-26
publisher = himachalpradeshindia.com ] They remained more or less inactive and so did their rulers with the exception of "Bushahr".

Some of them even rendered help to the British government during the revolt. Among them were the rulers of Chamba, Bilaspur, Bhagal and Dhami. The rulers of Bushars rather acted in a manner hostile to the interests of British.

The British territories in the hill came under British Crown after Queen Victoria's proclamation of 1858. The states of Chamba, Mandi and Bilaspur made good progress in many fields during the British rule. During the first world war, virtually all rulers of the hill states remained loyal and contributed to the British war effort both in the form of men and materials. Amongst these were the states of Kangra, Nurpur, Chamba, Suket, Mandi and Bilaspur.

Post independence

After independence the "Chief Commissioner's province of H.P." came into being on 15th April, 1948. Himachal became a part C state on 26th January, 1950 with the implementation of the Constitution of India. Himachal Pradesh became Union Territory on 1st November, 1956. On 18th December, 1970 the State of Himachal Pradesh Act was passed by Parliament and the new state came into being on 25th January, 1971. Thus H.P. emerged as the eighteenth state of Indian Union.

References