Chamba district

Chamba district is the northwestern district of Himachal Pradesh, in India, with its headquarters in Chamba town. The towns of Dalhousie, Khajjhiar and Churah Valley are popular hill stations and vacation spots for the people from the plains of northern India.

Economy

In 2006 the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Chamba one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640). It is one of the two districts in Himachal Pradesh currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).

Demographics

Population

According to the 2011 census Chamba district has a population of 519,080, roughly equal to the nation of Cape Verde. This gives it a ranking of 544th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001–2011 was 12.58%. Chamba has a sex ratio of 989 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 73.19%. 6.96% of the population lived in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes made up 21.52% and 26.10% of the population respectively. The Gaddis, the largest Scheduled Tribe in Himachal Pradesh, mainly live in Chamba district.

Religion

Religions in Chamba district (2011)
Religion			Per cent
Hinduism			92.43%
Islam			6.25%
Sikhism			0.53%
Other or not stated			0.79%

Religious groups in Chamba State (British Punjab province era)

Religious group	1901		1911		1921		1931		1941
	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
Hinduism File:Om.svgTemplate:Efn	119,327		126,269		130,489		135,254		155,910
Islam File:Star and Crescent.svg	8,332		8,750		10,529		10,839		12,318
Sikhism File:Khanda.svg	80		141		242		112		107
Christianity File:Christian cross.svg	70		81		63		94		190
Buddhism File:Dharma Wheel (2).svg	22		627		541		568		383
Jainism File:Jain Prateek Chihna.svg	3		5		3		3		0
Zoroastrianism File:Faravahar.svg	0		0		0		0		0
Judaism File:Star of David.svg	0		0		0		0		0
Others	0		0		0		0		0
Total population	127,834		135,873		141,867		146,870		168,908
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.

Languages

The majority of the people of the district are native speakers of languages in the Himachali group. These primarily include Chambeali (the first language reported by 23% of the population in the 2011 census), Gaddi or Bharmauri (22%), Churahi (14%), Pangwali (3.5%) and Bhateali (2.9%). Other languages spoken are Hindi (2.9%), Gujari (1.9%), Kashmiri (1.3%) and Punjabi (1.1%).

Politics

Constituency		Party		MLA	Remark
No.	Name
1	Churah (SC)	Template:Party name with color	Hans Raj
2	Bharmour (ST)	Template:Party name with color	Janak Raj
3	Chamba	Template:Party name with color	Neeraj Nayar
4	Dalhousie	Template:Party name with color	D S Thakur
5	Bhattiyat	Template:Party name with color	Kuldeep Singh Pathania	Speaker

Education

Schools

• Minority School Juwans Muslim Minority Educational Center Juwans Kihar district Chamba,

Interesting places

• Laxmi Narayan Temple : It is the most famous tourist attraction place in Chamba. There are six temples dedicated to Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu. Three temples are dedicated to Lord Vishnu, and another three to Lord Shiva.
• Gandhi Gate : The Viceroy of British Government Lord Curzon received a warm welcome by a bright orange gateway built in 1900, known as Gandhi gate. It is the main gateway of Chamba.

File:Laxminarayan temple of Chamba.jpg

Laxmi Narayan Temple of Chamba

A yet another place of interest in Chamba town is the Bhuri Singh Museum at Chamba which came into existence on 14 September 1908. It is named after Raja Bhuri Singh who ruled Chamba from 1904 to 1919. Bhuri Singh donated his family collection of paintings to the museum. The embroidered Chamba-Rumals are related in style since their drawings were made by pahari painters though the embroidery was done by the household ladies.

Salooni is 56 km from Chamba.

Khajjiar is mini Switzerland in Chamba. Bhalei Mata Temple is famous in Chamba. It is 35 km from Chamba. Chhudra is 25 km from Chamba.

Villages

• Chaned

Fair and festivals

Chamba is famous for its vivid festivals. The Suhi Mata festival is held for four days in March/April every year in memory of princess Sui. She is known to have sacrificed her life for the cause of her people, that is, the people of Chamba.

File:Chandrabhaga river flowing through the Pangi Valley in Chamba District of Himachal Pradesh.jpg

Chandrabhaga river flowing through the Pangi Valley in Chamba District of Himachal Pradesh.

At the time of the harvest of the maize crop, which is the main crop of this region, to express happiness and to enjoy after a hard toil, locals celebrate Minjar festival. This week long fare/ Mela is the most popular Mela of Chamba.

• Chaurasi Temple : Nestled on the bank of the river Ravi, Chamba town complete 1000 years of its existence. The town stands on a plateau on the right bank of the Ravi river valley between Dhauladhar and Zanskar ranges south of the inner Himalayas. This town was founded by Raja Sahil Varman in the beginning of 10th century. In the genealogical rolls of the Chamba Rajas, a reference occurs of place, which was adorned with highly fragrant Champaka trees and guarded by Goddess Champavati.

The temple was built by Sahil Varman in the honour of his daughter Champavati who is worshipped as a goddess in Chamba. This journey of one thousand years is a repository a civilised, cultured and developed society which existed in the lap of the Himalayas. The unique architect of houses and temples, splendid wood and metal craft, world fame Chamba Rumal and Chappal and the pahari paintings are some salient features of this one thousand years young town.Template:Tone inline

The Chamba town has a number of temples, Palaces and stylised buildings. Laxmi Narayana Temple, which is the main temple of Chamba town, was built by Sahil Varman in the 10th century AD. There are several other temples within the complex.

The temple of Radha Krishna, Shiva Temple of Chandergupta and Gauri Shankar Temple are among these. The ancient temple of Vajreshwari is believed to be 1000 years old and is dedicated to Devi Vajreshwari-Goddess of lightning.

The Sui Mata temple can be divided into three parts which can physically spread apart. The Hari Rai temple is dedicated to Lord Vishnu and dates back to 11th century.

Reference of Chamba town would be incomplete without the majestic Chaugan. It is the heart and hub centre of all activities in Chamba. Tradition is silent as to its use as a polo ground and the name is etymologically distinct from Chaugan, the Persian name of Polo, being of Sanskrit origin and meaning 'four-sided'. Initially the five Chaugan were a single patch of meadow.

To mark the completion of 1000 years of this town, the Government of Himachal Pradesh had celebrated the millennium of this town from 14 to 20 April 2006 in a most befitting way. The celebrations has provided the people the opportunity to have a firsthand knowledge of the rich cultural and historical past of the Chamba town.

Notable residents

Chamba district is represented in Lok Sabha by the Member of Parliament elected from Kangra (Lok Sabha constituency). Earlier it is represented for first 4 elections to Lok Sabha as member elected from Chamba (Lok Sabha constituency). The MP elected from Chamba seat were A. R Sewal in 1952, Padam Dev in 1957, Chattar Singh in 1962 and Vikram Chand Mahajan in 1967.

External links

• District profile of Chamba