I was just walking through some documents I had saved over the years, when it struck me that there has been very little new research work or relook into the history of the hill states. One particular format has been the examination of oral ballads, very few of which seem to be available in popular culture today. However, that was certainly not the case in the British era, when much field work seems to have been done by scholars of Europe on the subject, as they panned across the state of the Lahore kingdom and their adjunct territories. Sirmour was a Small Princely state along the Yamuna river's course While their purpose may have been malevolent in nature, many interesting insights got captured over the course of their work, and replication or improvement on the same seems to be rather scarce, especially in the context of what the European scholars used to call the "Punjab Hill States". One such case was on Sirmour, where very little information can be found in the publi...
Maharaja Hari Singh Bahadur had ascended the throne after his uncle, Maharaja Pratap Singh had died without an heir in 1925. History has always remained divided and unfair to Maharaja Hari Singh and several eminent historians have been wilfully ignorant of the real Hari Singh and his desires. Thankfully, public notions have started to change, albeit slowly, about the man and his role in 1948 for good. Maharaja Hari Singh, son of Raja Amar Singh, became the ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, continuing the illustrious Dev dynasty of the Jamwals. However, the circumstances of his ascent were problematic to say the least. The British Resident's continued interference in the state affairs was part of the continued Great Game, and oftentimes Hari Singh had to undertake measures under duress. However, to say that the ruler was a despot is sloppy and lazy understanding of the events of the time. By then, several reforms had taken place in the state, including abolition of begar, educa...