Princely state
Bushahr (Bashahr)
| Seat | rampur |
|---|---|
| Capital | Kamru → Sarahan → Rampur |
| Dynasty | Bushahr Rajputs |
| Group | Simla Hill States |
| Founder | Pradyumna (tradition) |
| Founded | traditionally ancient; historically documented from the medieval period |
| Merged | 15 April 1948 |
The largest of the Simla Hill States, stretching from the Sutlej gorge to the Tibetan border, with its capitals moving downstream over time: Kamru in the Baspa valley, then Sarahan, then Rampur.
Bushahr is the state to remember for 1857: it was the only hill state that neither helped the British nor supplied them troops, and Raja Shamsher Singh sheltered Subedar Bhim Singh after the Kasauli rising. It is also the state with the longest record of popular protest — the Dum Koti and Dujjam movements against forced labour.
- Bhimakali temple at Sarahan — a Shakti Peeth in the distinctive tower style, and the state deity.
- Lavi fair at Rampur — the great trans-Himalayan trade fair, traced to Kehri Singh's treaty with Tibet.
- Dujjam movement (1906) and the Dum Koti rising (1859) against begar (forced labour) and reeth.
- Bushahr supplied the earliest and most persistent anti-begar agitation in the hills, later taken up by Satyanand Stokes at Kotgarh.