Sirmur State

Sirmaur State Sirmoor State Nahan State
British India
1095–1948
Coat of arms
1901 Census of India		135,626
History
• Established	1095
•  Independence of India	1948
Succeeded by India
Today part of	OCLC 41357468 .

Sirmur

Sirmur (also spelled as Sirmor, Sirmaur, Sirmour, or Sirmoor) was an independent kingdom in India, founded in 1616, located in the region that is now the Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh. The state was also known as Nahan, after its main city, Nahan. The state ranked predominant amongst the Punjab hill States. It had an area of 4,039 km² and a revenue of 300,000 rupees in 1891.^{[citation needed]}

History

According to Mian Goverdhan Singh in Wooden Temples of Himachal Pradesh, the principality of Sirmaur was founded in the 7th to 8th century by Maharaja of

Nahan, the predecessor state of Sirmur, was founded by Soba Rawal in 1095 AD who assumed the name Raja Subans Prakash.

Near the end of the 12th century in the year 1195, a flood of the Giri River destroyed the old capital of Sirmaur-Tal, which killed Raja Ugar Chand.^[1] A ruler of Jaisalmer, Raja Salivahana, thought this was an opportune time to attack the state as it was in a state of disarray due to the natural disaster and death of its ruler, so he sent his son Sobha to conquer the state.^[1] The attack was successful and a new dynasty headed by Bhati Rajputs was established.^[1] Sirmur was part of Raja Jasrat's kingdom who also ruled over most of Punjab and Jammu.^[2]

The new capital was founded in 1621 by Raja Karam Prakash, and the state was renamed to Sirmur.^{[citation needed]}

Sirmur was surrounded by the hill states of Balsan and Jubbal in the North, Dehradun district in the East, Ambala district in the South West, and the states of Patiala and Keonthal in the North-West.^{[citation needed]}

But by chance, shortly after this event a prince of Jaisalmer visited Haridwar as a pilgrim, and was invited by one of the minstrels of the Sirmoor kingdom to become its sovereign. He accordingly sent a force under his son, the Rawal or prince Sobha, who put down the disorders which had arisen in the state, and became the first Räjã of Sirmur, under the title of Subhans Parkash, a title which the Rajãs have ever since retained.

, and the Rajas’ hold over their northern fiefs appears to have been weak until in the fourteenth century Bir Parkash fortified Hãth-Koti, on the confines of Jubbal, Retwain, and Sahri, the last of which became the capital of the State for a time.

Eventually in 1621 Karm Parkash founded Nahan, the modern capital. His successor, Mandhata, was called upon to aid Khalil-ullah, the general of the emperor Shah Jahan, in his invasion of Garhwãl, and his successor, Sobhag Parkãsh, received a grant of Kotaha in reward for this service. Under Aurangzeb this Rãjä again joined in operations against Garhwãl. His administration was marked by a great development of the agricultural resources of the State, and the tract of Kolagarh was also entrusted to him by the emperor.

Budh Parkãsh, the next ruler, recovered

who had invaded Kalhur, in 1793.

He was succeeded by his brother, Karm Parkãsh, a weak ruler, whose misconduct caused a serious revolt. To suppress this he rashly invoked the aid of the Gurkhas, who promptly seized their opportunity and invaded Sirmür, expelled Ratn Parkash, whom the rebels had placed on the throne, and then refused to restore Karm Parkash. His queen, a princess of Goler and a lady of courage and resource, took matters into her own hands and invoked British aid. Her appeal coincided with the declaration of war against

Rulers

The rulers of Sirmur bore the title "Maharaja" from 1911 onward.^[4]

Name	Ruled from	Ruled until	Citation
Subhansh Prakash	1095	1099
Mahe Prakash	1099	1117
Udit Prakash	1117	1127
Kaul Prakash	1127	1153
Sumer Prakash	1153	1188
Suraj Prakash	1188	1254
Bhagat Prakash	1254	1336
Jagat Prakash	1336	1388
Bir Prakash	1388	1398
Naket Prakash	1398	1398
Ratna Prakash	1398	1413
Garv Prakash	1413	1432
Brahm Prakash	1432	1446
Hams Prakash	1446	1471
Bhagat Prakash 2	1471	1538
Dharam Prakash	1538	1570
Deep Prakash	1570	1585
Budh Prakash	1605	1615
Bhagat Prakash 3	1615	1620
Karam Prakash	1621	1630
Mandhata Prakash	1630	1654
Sobhag Prakash	1654	1664
Budh Prakash	1664	1684	[1][5]
Mat Prakash	1684	1704	[1][5]
Hari Prakash	1704	1712	[5]
Bijay Prakash	1712	1736
Pratap Prakash	1736	1754
Kirat Prakash	1754	1770
Jagat Prakash	1770	1789
Dharam Prakash	1789	1793
Karam Prakash II (died 1820)	1793	1803
Ratan Prakash (installed by British in 1804)	1803	1804
Karma Prakash II (died 1820)	1804	1815
Fateh Prakash	1815	1850
Raghbir Prakash	1850	1856
Shamsher Prakash	1856	1898
Surendra Bikram Prakash	1898	1911
Amar Prakash	1911	1933
Rajendra Prakash	1933	1947

Demographics

Religious groups in Sirmur State (

British Punjab province

era)

Religious group	1901[6]		1911[7][8]		1921[9]		1931[10]		1941[11]
	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
Hinduism [a]	128,478	94.69%	130,276	94.05%	132,431	94.29%	139,031	93.58%	146,199	93.7%
Islam	6,414	4.73%	6,016	4.34%	6,449	4.59%	7,020	4.73%	7,374	4.73%
Sikhism	688	0.51%	2,142	1.55%	1,449	1.03%	2,413	1.62%	2,334	1.5%
Jainism	61	0.04%	49	0.04%	65	0.05%	52	0.04%	81	0.05%
Christianity	46	0.03%	37	0.03%	44	0.03%	52	0.04%	38	0.02%
Buddhism	0	0%	0	0%	10	0.01%	0	0%	0	0%
Zoroastrianism	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%
Judaism	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%
Others	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%
Total population	135,687	100%	138,520	100%	140,448	100%	148,568	100%	156,026	100%
Note: British Punjab province era district borders are not an exact match in the present-day due to various bifurcations to district borders — which since created new districts — throughout the historic Punjab Province region during the post-independence era that have taken into account population increases.

Notes

References