Hilltownaffairs

The participation of goddess Hadimba of Dhungri (Manali) is a must for Dussehra festival in Kullu. The descendants of Pal dynasty which ruled over Kullu till 1841 , regard her as their great-grandmother. She is said to have bestowed upon this dynasty the kingdom of Kullu territory. The story goes that a chieftain ruled over a part of upper Kullu from his capital at Bhanara, a sleepy village above Jagat Sukh. He was a cruel and whimsical man and had ordered that his subjects should bring fresh milk daily to his household. Anyone who disobeyed his orders would be severely punished. One day it was a turn of a poor Brahmin, who had no milch cow of his own, nor he had the money to buy milk. Knowing that he would face the wrath of the ruler, the Brahmin got milk of his wife, who had given birth to a baby. That day, the chieftain relished the sweet dish more than ever before. He asked the Brahmin to explain about the superior quality of the milk he had supplied. The Brahmin told the truth tha...

Strictly speaking, god Jamloo of Malana has the precedence over all the village gods of Kullu. He has well-knit shrines and temples throughout the valley. Malana, (2520 metres) a solitary village in Parvati valley stands isolated from the rest of the world. It is approachable by a difficult track from Jari through the narrow terrain of Malana torrent or the arduous route from Naggar via the Chanderkhani Pass (3750 metres). There is something mysterious about this remote little human settlement, for they do not themselves know whence and where they came from. They try to keep themselves aloof from the neighbours across the mountains and are either ignorant or incapable of giving their identification to the outsiders. The formidable mountain barriers have so effectively insulated this tiny village that its inhabitants have been able to keep their curious social, cultural and religious customs intact ever since they are said to have settled on this remote plateau. Devta Jamloo is a Buddhi...

There was a chief called Bhoshal Rana of Hat (Bajaura) who had extended his hold as far as Baragarh fort in the upper Beas. In Kullu history, this Rana is known for his stupidity and foolish manners. A story still current about his style of functioning goes that a villager brought twelve pumpkins to the market for sale. He was confronted by eighteen men demanding the octroi. The poor peasant, thus, coined the couplet. " Bara Petha, Thara Dani, Bhosal Rana Sar na jani. " which means; twelve pumpkins and eighteen tax collectors, Bhosal Rana knows nothing about the governance. The Rana was married to a Suket princess. His Wazir Tita Mehta was infatuated with the beauty of the Rani, and the Rana was in love with the daughter of the Wazir. The Rani repelled bad intention of the Wazir, who then decided to take a revenge. The Wazir then persuaded the Rana to sacrifice the Rani by burying her alive to propitiate the water-god as water was not flowing from the new...