SIRMUR

Introduction

Sirmur*district in Himachal Pradesh is more advanced and closer with affiliations to the surrounding States. There are more of communication links. The components of the higher castes in Hind-us are the Rajputs and Brahmins. There is more of literacy and education. Originally a Princely State Sirmur had Nahan, an urban area as its capital. The fine of ruling princes was enlightened.

They had sponsored a number of temples themselves and had endowed many other temples with gifts of lands. Naturally we find here a very large number of temples for a large number of different deities . There are large religious fairs and the fair at Rainka is one of the most important and attracts thousands of visitors from different parts of Himachal, Haryana and Punjab.

There are quite a few prominent religious cults and some of them are almost indigenous to this district. The religious cult of Shirigul, the word is fancifully derived from Sard (cold), has thousands of adherents and a large number of temples. The home of the Shirigul God is on the Chaur (chin) peak, which is visible from Simla. Similarly the cults of Mahasu or Mahashiv and Paras Ram have a large number of temples dedicated to Mahasu and Paras Ram. Besides we find a large number of Thakur Dwara temples in this district scattered all over.

Author - P.C. Roy Choudhoury

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