HP GK Details Of Lahaul Spiti In English
LAHAUL SPITI
- History of lahaul spiti
- Geography location
- Rivers
- Passses
- Mountains
- Culture
- Arts
- Demographics
- Fairs and festivals
- Temples
- Miscellaneous facts
Geography
Location
- Latitude - 31° 44’ 57″ and 32° 59’ 57N Longitude- 76° 46’ 29″ and 78° 41’ 34E
- Major Rivers-Chandra and bhaga (Chenab)
- Chenab
- Vedic name –asikni
- Confluence of chandra and bhaga at tandi
- Emerge from baralacha pass
- Flows 122 km in himachal
- Catchment area 7500sq.km
- Enters pangi at bhujind
- Leaves chamba at sansari nala and enter podar valley
- Largest in terms of volume
- Tributaries –saicher nullah
- miyar nullah
Demographics
- Density/km2 -2
- Sex Ratio (Per 1000) 903
- Child Sex Ratio (0-6 Age) 1033
- Average Literacy 76.81
- Male Literacy 85.69
- Female Literacy 66.84
- Government
- Vidhan Sabha constituencies 01
- Area Total 13,833 km2 (5,341 sq mi )
- SC- 7.84% ST 73%
Borders Distt
- North –jammu and kashmir
- South –kullu
- West –chamba
- East-tibet
- Southeast –kinnaur
- South west –kangra
Rivers
- Chandra –baralacha pass
- Source –bada shigri and samundari glacier
- Khoksar, sirsu , gondla regions
- Bhaga –enters in surajtal
- Meet zanskar at dharcha
- Spiti –tributary of satluj
- originates from kunzam and meet namgia
Passes
Rohtang pass –
- high mountain pass
- Pir panjal range
- Mound of dead
- pass separates kullu from lahaul
- Atal tunnel excavated
- Height -3978metres
Bhangal pass –
- lies between lahaul and bara bhangal
Shingdakon pass
- Pass separates lahaul and zanskar
Kunzam pass
- High mountain pass .
- Connects Lahaul valley and Spiti valley .
- Height4590 metres
Kugti pass
- Lahaul-bharmaur
- Pir panjal range
- Baralacha pass
- Connects lahaul and ladakh
- Passes of road summit
- Chandrabhaga and unan rivers rises from it
Valleys –
Chandra valley –
- Locally called rangoli
- First village koksar
- Formed by river chandra
Bhaga valley
- locally called gara
- Extended from baralacha to dharcha
- Formed by river bhaga
Chandrabhaga valley
- Popularly called pattan valley
- Orchards &granary
- Formed by union of chandra and bhaga rivers and begins at tandi
Spiti valley
- Remotest valley of himalayan
- Lies at indo-tibetean border
- Formed by spiti river arises from kunzam merge with satluj at namgia
- Ridyard kipling –surely the gods live here there is no place for men and world within a world
Pin valley –
- Formed by pin river
- Meet near dhankar to spiti valley
Glacier
Bara shigri –
- Largest glacier
- 25 km long and 3 km wide
Gyephang glacier
- Gyephang deity
- Had temple at shashatandi Matternhorn Of switzerland Manimahesh of lahaul ,Main deity of Lahaul
- Lady of keylong
- Named so by lady elashainghday
- Situated at altitude at 6061 m
- Snow covered
- Dark patch that looks like a figure of women
- walking with loads on her back
Mulkila glacier –
- at altitude of 6478 m
- Miyar glacier , bhaga ,kulti nala , targiri glacier
- Perad glacier
Sonapani –
- visible from rohtang pass
Chandra glacier –
- separated from bara shigri
- Forming chandratal lake
Temples
Trilokinath temple-
- Rajalilaaditya
- Image of avalokiteshwar
- Pauri mela is celebrated
Marikula devi temple –
- Built by pratap varman
- Located at udaipur
Tabo monastery
- Located at kaza
- Ajanta of himalayas
- oldest monastery
- Founded in 996AD
- Ringchen zangpo founded monastery
- Dedicated to yeshe o nadKee monastery
- Spiti Largest monastery
- Guru ghantal monastary
- Tupchaling
- Oldest gompa
- Located at chandra river at 3020 m Kardang monastery
- Keylong
- Lama nobru
- Kangyur and tangyur volumes
- Bhoti language
- Shashur monastary
- Lama deva gyatsho of zanskar
- Nawang namgyal
Fairs and festival
Pori fair –
- Trilokinath
- Celebrated to worship trilokinath
Gochi festival
- Keylong
- Celebrated on febrauary
- Where male child born
Guitor festival
- October
- Masked dance
Halda festival
- December
- Shiskar apa
- Cedar twigs carried to every house
- Flames of bonfire
Art &Culture
Folk dance
- Shunto dance –by men in praise of buddha
- Chaamba dance-like punjabi dance & performed by lamas
- Beating of drums and blowing of trumpets masks of demaons , dragons
- Lahauli dance –tunes of ladakh called as Suma and damman
- dances are circular pattern
- Shand and shambu –famous dances in memory of buddha
- Performed on the completion of harvesting of crops
- Marriage –tabagstan ,kunubhaibhagstan, kaunvi marriage
- Drink –chaang local liquar
lakes
Suraj Tal Lake Tso Kamtsi
- Suraj Tal is one of the highest lakes in the world.
- ‘Lake of the Sun God’.
- elevation of about 4,890 m above the sea level
- Suraj Tal is the third-highest lake in India.
- Chandratal Lake Tso Chigma
- an altitude of about 4,300 m.
- gigantic peaks of Chandra Bhaga the Lake of the Moon.
- Situated in samudra tapu plateau
- Hieun tsang named as lohitya sarovar
Neelkanth Lake -
- situated in Thirot valley , dedicated to lord shiva , only males are allowed to visit the lake
- Deepaktal -located in lahaul
History
- Naming of lahaul
- Known as garja and swangla
- According to cunningham lahaul is known as south distt of ladakh
- Rahul sanskrityan called lahaul as land of gods
- Also called country of passess
- Tenan punan and tod language –Garja
- Machand language –Swangla
- Lahaul was orginated by Rahul son of budh
- as per inscriptions
- Spiti Land of pearls or rattan bhumi
- First head quarter is dhankar and now kaza
Ancient history
- Ancient ruler of this area is manu
- Took part in mahabharata era
- Kanishak captured this area
- Stupa of kanishak was found in zanskar
- Harshvardhan also ruled over this area
- Hieuntsang visted kullu n lahaul in 635 AD
- Chamba also took over lahaul and during harsha era chamba and kullu also ruled over lahaul
- According to hieuntsang spiti was ruled by Sen dynasty and Samudra sen was the first ruler
- Rajender sen ruler of spiti made kullu as tax paying area and captured it
- Spiti came under the influence of ladakh during rule of Raja Chetsen
- Ruler of spiti called as Nono
Medieval history
- Lahaul become part of kashmir
- Art of kashmir -11 centuary
- Trilokinath and mrikula temple had examples of kashmir art
- Raja lachen utpal of ladakh ruled over lahaul when he defeated kullu and insisted to breed cow and yak as zo and zomo
- 1420-1470- ruler of kashmir Zain ul abdin attacked tibet and took over kullu and lahaul in ladakh
- 1532-1559 -Raja Bahaudur shah of kullu –lahaul become part of kullu
- During the rule of king Jagat Singh lahaul as part of kullu and in 1681 mongols attacked lahaul
- With the help of mughal king Bidhi singh took over upper parts of kullu
- And thirot as borderline between chamba and kullu
- During tibet –ladakhi mughal 1681-83 war spiti was an independent
- part of kullu aur ladakh
- Maan singh of kullu made gondla fort
Modern History
- King of Kullu Vikram Singh in Gemur Gompa –in an inscription
- Details of visit William moorcraft in lahaul in 1820 and According to him that lahaul was under ladakh and capital was tandi
Sikhs-
- Lahaul was under sikhs in1840
- Cunningham travelled lahaul in 1839
- Sikhs ‘s minister zoravar singh attacked ladakh and spiti in 1834-35
- During amritsar treaty spiti came under british rule in 1846
- Chamba lahaul merge with british lahaul in1975
- Britishers made Baliram as first negi of lahaul
- during 1857 revolt ,Nono wazir helped britishers
- Britisher gave wazir Amir chand as Raibahadur designation on the account of first world war
- 1941 lahaul become subtehsil and headquarter was keylong
- Become district 1960 by punjab govt.
- Merge with HP in 1966
