Himachal even more blissful. Well, while there’s a lot Himachal can offer in terms of history, from being Punjab until 1971 to becoming an independent state thereafter, I’d rather stick to some pretty distinguished monuments, legends and stories.
The English discovered Himachal in the late 19th century when they sent a group of scouts to explore the land beyond their last base near Chandi Mandir- the outskirts of Chandigarh. The scouts travellled further up north and saw a place that amazed them. The place looked exactly like England, unending evergreen coniferous forests, hills studded with pines, plenty of water, beautiful weather and mountains in the backdrop. Excited of having found a place that felt like home, the scouts went back to tell that they’ve found a “ Home away from home”. Soon the English masters decided to build roads to this place.
The roads led them to Shimla (Shyamla Devi Temple) and they felt that this would make a perfect retreat for the hardworking English. Soon, the English began to colonise the land and called it a “Jewel of the Orient”- a pretty elitist definition.
The English families started moving in and slowly, with enough English souls around, the place needed proper houses, schools, hospitals, markets, places of worship, offices and a place for entertainment and social gatherings. This led to some of the best architecture define Shimla.
The Mall Road , the Gaitey Theatre, the Walker Hospital ( no more- since a fire broke out around 2000) , Convent schools in and around Shimla and the famous church on the Ridge. Multiple tunnels go through the town, cutting through one hill into another. A stroll on the Mall Road, with sights of the English architected buildings, the Gaitey theatre, and further down to the Viceregal lodge ( now, institute of advanced studies) is an English story painted on the canvas of the hill town.
The dungeons near the viceregal lodge , the large courtyard and huge metal emblems and clocks narrate a saga of the grandeur colonial summer capital. Then hotel wildflower hall, the president’s retreat near Charabra are all places that need to be seen at least once. The Kalka shimla railway is an engineering marvel- being a century old heritage line that passes through 103 tunnels to reach Shimla via Solan.
Not just Shimla, the English remains can be found in places such as Dalhousie, Kangra and Mandi too.Apart from this, the Indian mythological story behind Jakhu temple is pretty interesting. The history behind the Kullu Dussera and the might of Hidimba Devi is also an interesting piece.
The land of gods (Devabhoomi) has multiple stories of Sages meditating in the hills such as Bhrigu- a sage after whom the Bhrigu lake is named and also Parashar a sage from these mountains.
There is a lot Himachal can offer interns of history both aboriginal as well as during the colonial era. And both of them need to be undertaken independently . The confusing question will be where to begin first.
