CHAPTER-II. Survey of Literature. In classical Sanskrit literature there are. numerous references to festivals and fairs celebrated

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1 CHAPTER-II Survey of Literature In classical Sanskrit literature there are numerous references to festivals and fairs celebrated throughout the country but nothing is found about the festivals of the hills although the holiest of the holy places of Bharata Varsha are located in the Himalayas, to which from times ^imniemorial innumerable pilgrims have been coming. Although since the beginning of medieval history, foreign travellers and historians have recorded the principal marts and entrepets of commerce in India and have been Tnentioned important festivals and fairs, no systematic regional inventory was attempted until, the coming of the3ritishers in the beginning of the nineteenth century. The great Revenue Surveys of the middle of the nineteenth century made some attempt in this direction and gave sketchy accounts of fairs and festivals in this region. George Carnac Barnes wrote the "Report on the Settlement in the districts of Kangra in the Trans-Sutlej States" and it was published from Lahore in After this J.B.Lyall carried out another study of Kangra and his work was published under title "Report of the Land Revenue Settlement of the Kangra District, Punjab, Z". It was published from

2 34 Lahore in Again A.Anderson wrote "Final Report on the revised Settlement of Kangra proper, 1897; J.Coldstream wrote "Final Report of the Third Revised Settlement of the Parol, Lag Maharaja and Lag Sari, Sub-Tehsil Saraj-Rupi-Lahaul and Spiti Waziris of the Kullu Sub-Division of the Kangra District, 1917; A.N.Disck wrote "Final Report on the revised settlement of the Kullu Sub-Division of the Kangra District, 1898 and L.Middleton wrote "Final Report on the third revised land Revenue Settlement of the Palampur, Kangra and Nurpur Tehsils of Kangra District Lt.Col.E.G.Vace conducted the settlement of Shimla District from and published the Final Report on the First Regular Settlement of the Shimla District in the Punjab from Cacutta in J.D.Anderson again conducted the land settlement of Shimla District in and published its findings under title "Final Settlement Report on the Shimla District 1916 and it was printed by Government Printing Press Lahore in Simultaneously regular settlements were carried out in Punjab Hill States and Shimla Hill States. of importants settlement reports are as under:- Some l^ Nihal Singh Bedi : Final Settlement of the Suket State, Bihari Lai Report on the 1st regular Settlement of the Koti State, 1916.

3 35 3. Bhagwan Dass Report on the First regular Settlement of the Dhami State,1916. Durga Singh Report on the Settlement and New Management o the Jubbal State Shimla Districtl907 Kahan Chand Final Report of the Settlement of Sirmour" State, Laiqu Ram Settlement Report on the Bhajji State,1923 Amin Chand Settlement Report of the Ghund State of Shimla District, Raghubir Singh Final Report of the First Settlement of Regular the Pahari Ilaqu of Nalagarh State (Shimla Hills), Amar Singh Report Kanuni Bandovast Riyast KahlurlBilaspur Zila Shimla, Kuthar State: Report Bandovast Kanuni Riyast Kuthar, Kunihar State Report Bandovast Kanuni Riyast Kunihar. I9I6 12. Durga Singh 13. Baghat State 14. Bhawain Singh 15. Sher Singh Repor t Bandovast Mai Ikrarnama Riyast Keonthal, Report Tashkhish Report Bandovast Kanuni Riyast Mahlog, Report Bandovast Kanuni R i}"a s t Bnglin ] Zila Sh imla ".

4 36 The Imperial Gazetteers of India and its provincial series publ i shedin 1880 and 1910 gave a minor place to these important cultural traits. Even the District and State Gazetteers brought out by the Punjab Government between 1883 to 1935 which still are the fullest and most compact accounts of the districts, fairs and festivals in the area under study. "Gazetteers of the Kangra Pi st riot, 1883 was published in Its revised addition under title "Punjab District Gazetteer: Kangra District 1904 was brought out in 1907 and this edition was again revised and published in Similarly Kullu, Lahaul & Spiti parts of these Gazetteers were published in 1897 and Gazetter of Shimla District " was printed in Its revised edition under title "Punjab District Gazetteers Shimla District " was brought out in Gazetteers on Punjab Hill States and Shimla Hill State under series caption "Punjab State Gazetteers: Chamba, Mandi and Suket, Shimla Hill States and Sirmour containing information from the very beginning to 1904 were published between 1908 and Mandi State Gazetteer was again revised by W.B.Smerson, I.C.S. and published in Suket State Gazet t eer was also revised Snd printed in A portion of Shimla Hill State Gazetteer and Sirmour of 1904 were again republished in 1939, containing information upto 1934.

5 37 In 1960 the Himachal Pradesh Government took in hand the work of rewriting new gazetteers under title "Himachal Pradesh District Gazetteer". Uptil now theyhave brought out only five volumes on Bilaspur, 1975, Chamba, 1963, Kinnaur,1971, Lahaul and Spiti, 1975 and Sirmour Those gazetteers contain valuable information on fairs and festivals of the districts. The Census reports provide valuable material on the fairs and festivals of this region. The first regular census was conducted by D.J.C.Ibbetsn,I.C.S. in 1881 and published under title "Punjab Census Report of 1881" in 3 Vols. Census of 1891 was conducted by E.D.Maclaga" I.C.S. and his report was entitled "Punjab Census Report,1891". On the basis of those above mentioned reports, and gazetteers, H.A.Rose, I.C.S. compiled and edited a voluminous set of three volume under heading "Glossary of the Tribes and Castes in the Punjab ^ N.W.F.P., published between The first volume of this set is a gold mine on the cults, beliefs, festivals and fairs of Punjab and Punjab hills. ^Following the census operation of Himachal Pradesh in 1961, a big volume, containing exhaustive details of fairs and festivals arranged according to tehsils and districts, was brought out as a part of the Himachal Pradesh scheme of Census publications.

6 The title page reads "Census of India 1961: Himachal Pradesh-Fairs and Festivals". 3 8 Besides, Census Operation Department brought out 27 village survey reports, namely on Kothi, Nichar and Kanam of Kinnaur District, Shakrori, Gijari, Shathla, Chirgaon, Chauri, Chaupal of Shimla District; Batal and Basal of Solan District; Dabhla Dari and Deoli of Bilaspur District; Chitrari, Devi Kothi, Maingal, Hatli, Bharmour and Kupha Parmas of Chamba District; Chauntra, Bir, Kot Pangna and Nalag of Mandi District; and villages Rajana, Moginand, Kolar and Kamrao of Sirmour District. These village monographs contain most valuable ^lata on the fairs and festivals of these villages and neighbouring areas. During 1961 census operation, the Punjab Government also collected the information on the fairs and festivals prevalent in the Punjab Hill areas of Kangra, Kullu, Lahaul and Spiti and Shimla districts and published in "Census of India, 1961" Punjabi-Fairs and Festivals". They also brought out village survey reports on some selected villdges of Lahaul and Spiti, Kangra and Shimla Disrict. These publications also throw sufficient light on the fairs and festivals. In 1955 the Directorate of Public Relation Department of Himachal Pradesh started a Hindi monthly "HIMPRASAT". This department again started an other weekly Hindi paper "Giri Raj" in Both these periodicals have been publishinq articles on the fairs

7 39 and festivals of Himachal Pradesh. Art, culture and language Akademi of Himachal Pradesh have been publishing two Hindi quarterly magazine entitled "Somsi" and " Him Bharati". From time to time these have been publishing articles on the cultural activities of the Pradesh. The national papers are also bringing out special features and articles on the fairs, festivals and other social, cultural and religious activities of Himachal Pradesh. Mela Committee and organisers of important fairs and festivals at times bring out souvenirs which throw light on the origin, legeni,, tradition, function and cultural activities of those social gatherings. Thus the task of carrying out an analytical study on the fairs and festivals of Himachal Pradesh is by not an easy one as the published and unpublished material on Himachal Pradesh is widely scattered.

Sketch map of Himachal Pradesh

Sketch map of Himachal Pradesh Short history: "All the world over, high mountain ranges have served as refuge to remnants of ancient people and Covilisation, in which, comparatively unmolested, they could