Kanawar

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This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS.

Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.

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 degree 7' and 32 degree 5' N. and 77 degree 48' and 79 degree 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 Bashahr. The estimated area is 1,730 square miles, and the population in 1901 was 17,741.

Kanawar is a rugged country, 50 miles in length by 40 in breadth, through whose ridges winds the deeply cleft valley of the Sutlej. The precipitous banks of the main river afford little room for cultivation, but the valleys of its tributaries are assiduously tilled by the mountaineers. Until about forty-five years ago, grapes yielded an abundant vintage, being manufactured into raisin wine and strong spirit. Vine disease subsequently reduced the vintage to a quarter of what it once was, but has recently subsided. The population consists of a mixed Tibetan and Hindu race, the Mongolian element preponderating in the north, while the southern region is inhabited by persons of Aryan type. Alone among the neighbouring hill tribes, the Kanawaris successfully resisted the Gurkha invasion, and so completely baffled the enemy by breaking down bridges, that the Gurkhas entered into a convention by which, in return for a tribute of Rs. 11,250, they agreed to leave the valley unmolested. Polyandry exists in its fullest form throughout Kanawar. Religion, broadly speaking, follows race. The northern villages profess Buddhism of the Tibetan model ; in the south Hin- duism prevails, while the middle region shades off gradually from one faith into the other. The language varies, like the religion, from Tibetan in the north to neo-Sanskritic dialects on the Indian side. The chief villages in the valley are Sangnam and Kanum.