Punjab.

Date:: 1908

Credit: Punjab. Source: Wellcome Collection.

404/486 (page 372)

$on Jhobu, conferring the State on him and his heirs after his brother’s death. This sanad was confirmed in 1843 by another granted to Thakur Ranjit Singh, in which claims for forced labour {begdr) were commuted for a payment of Rs. 288. The present chief is Thakur Surat Singh, during whose minority the administration is in the hands of the WazTr. The revenue is estimated at Rs. 40,000. Balsan (or Ghodna).— One of the Simla Hill States, Pun- jab, lying between 30° 58' and 31° 7' N. and 77° 24' and 77° 35' E., with an area of 51 square miles. Population (1901), 6,704. The State lies 30 miles east of Simla, beyond the Giri river. It is fertile and contains fine forests of deodar. The chief, Rana Bir Singh, is a Rajput who traces his descent from the Sirmur dynasty, to which the State was tributary before 1805. The State is well administered on old-fashioned lines by the Rana. The revenue is Rs. 9,000, out of which a tribute of Rs. 1,080 is paid to the British Government in lieu of thirty labourers. Bashahr.—One of the Simla Hill States, Punjab, lying between 31° 6' and 32° 5' N. and 77° 32' and 79° 4' E., with an area of 3,820 square miles. Population (1901), 80,582. Number of villages, 70. Between 1803 and 1815 Bashahr was held in subjection by the conquering Gurkhas. On the overthrow of the Gurkha power in 1815, the British Govern- ment confirmed the Raja of Bashahr, by a sanad., in possession of all his territories, subject to the payment of a tribute of Rs. 22,500. In 1847 tribute was reduced to Rs. 5,910, as compensation for the abolition of transit duties. The pre- sent Raja, Shamsher Singh, who is a Rajput tracing back his descent for 120 generations, succeeded in 1850. He is of weak intellect; and, since the death of his only son in 1898, the State has been managed by an official deputed by Government. The Raja is required to furnish troops in aid of the British Government in time of war, and labour for the construction of roads in the Bashahr territory. The revenue of the State is about Rs. 85,000, the chief sources being land and forests. The forests are leased to the British Government for Rs. 10,000 per annum. Kanawar.—The upper or north-eastern subdivision of Bashahr State, Punjab, consisting in great part of the valley of the Upper Sutlej. It lies between 31° 7'and 32° 5^ N. and 77° 48'and 79° 4' E. It is bounded on the north by Spiti, on the east by Chinese territory, on the south by Bashahr proper and Tehrl, and on the west by the Kochi subdivision of$

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