Divine Jurisdictions and Forms of Government in Himachal Pradesh (Northern India)

Abstract

The present chapter concerns a Himalayan region that corresponds to the former Kullu kingdom. I analyse how territory has been taught, organized, and transformed in various ways and in different periods, according to a plurality of interrelated logics: ritual, political, fiscal, administrative, and electoral. My aim is to show that territory is not only the basis of ritual and political organization or individual identity; it is also a central topic of reflection and of explicit discourse. The analysis will focus on the notion of hār, used in the region to designate both the territory of a particular deity and the sovereignty of the deity over the inhabitants of this territory, defined as its 'political subjects'. The notion entails thus territorial ties between the inhabitants at a same hār. These various aspects will be analysed in the paper by taking into account successive forms of government in the region: first, a kingdom progressively came to be established in the seventeenth century; then the British colonial administration took over by the end of the nineteenth century; last, the region became part of the democratic Indian state, following Independence.