Sources for the History of Himachal

Why it is asked

HPAS asks for the sources of hill history as a question in its own right. Group them into five buckets and give an example for each.

1. Literary

• Sanskrit — Rig Veda (Shambara and the 99 forts), Mahabharata (Trigarta, Kulinda, Audumbara), Puranas, Ramayana, Panini's Ashtadhyayi (Ayudhajivi sanghas), Kalhana's Rajatarangini.
• Persian — Utbi's Tarikh-i-Yamini (1020) on Mahmud's sack of Nagarkot; Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri; Ain-i-Akbari.
• Vamshavalis — the genealogical chronicles kept by each ruling house; useful but partisan and often legendary in their early sections.

2. Epigraphic

• Meru Varman's inscriptions at Bharmour and Chhatrari — the oldest firmly dated records in Himachal.
• Pathyar and Kanihara rock inscriptions (Kangra) — earliest in Brahmi/Kharoshthi.
• Hatkoti cave inscription (Shimla); Salanu inscription (Mandi).
• About 36 inscriptions in Chamba alone, in Sharda and Tankri scripts.

3. Copper plates

The Nirmand copper plate (Kullu, 7th century) of Mahasamanta Maharaja Samudrasena is the earliest charter. Chamba issued more copper-plate grants than any other hill state.

4. Numismatic

• Audumbara — copper and silver, Brahmi and Kharoshthi, some bearing Mahadeva.
• Trigarta — square coins.
• Kuninda — silver coins of Amoghabhuti.
• Kuluta — the copper coin of Raja Virayasa.
• Indo-Greek — 21 coins of Apollodotus at Tappa Mewa (Hamirpur), 31 at Jwalamukhi.
• Kushan — 40 copper coins on the Kalka–Kasauli road.

5. Travellers and archives

• Hiuen Tsang (630–644) — Jalandhara, Kuluta, Lahaul, Srughna.
• European travellers — Forster, Moorcroft, the Gerard brothers, Fraser.
• State Museum, Shimla (1973–74) and the Bhuri Singh Museum, Chamba (1908).