Capital Bilaspur Name Kahlur Kahlur | ||
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Bandna dhiman at swarghat kahlur handur mela
Bilaspur State or Kahlur was a princely state in the Punjab Province during the era of British India, ruled by a Hindu Rajput dynasty.
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The state was initially known as Kahlur and was later renamed Bilaspur. It covered an area of 1173 km², and had a population of 100,994 according to the 1931 Census of India. The last ruler of Bilaspur State signed the accession to join the Indian Union on 12 October 1948.
Bilaspur State remained Bilaspur Province in independent India until 1950 when the province was briefly renamed "Bilaspur State" before it was merged with Himachal Pradesh state as a district in 1954.
History
According to local myths compiled during the reign of Raja Hira Chand the predecessor state was founded around 697 by Bir Chand. After Kahal Chand had built Kahlur Fort the state was named after it. Initially the capital of the state was at a place named Jhandbari —now in Hoshiarpur district— and then it was transferred to Kahlur Fort, but was later moved permanently to Bilaspur by Dip Chand, the 32nd Raja of Kahlur (1653 - 1665). Since the 18th century the rulers of Bilaspur State patronised artists of the Kangra painting style.
Bilaspur State came under British protection in 1815 under Raja Mahan Chand and became one of the Simla Hill States. Tikka Anand Chand was the last ruler of the princely state and Pandit Sant Ram was the last Home Minister. As Bilaspur acceded to India on 12 October 1948( In fact it was the only unique case where Raja handed over charge to himself)Bilaspur retained an independent identity as a separate province and as a part C.Raja was appointed commissioner of the part C state.In following years after Raja resigned his deputy Chhabra who was appointed by govt of India to help run the temporary govt of Bilaspur took over while the territory of the princely state was politically integrated into the Indian Union.
From 26 January 1950 Bilaspur was administered by the Government of India as a separate C-Class state named Bilaspur State which in 1954 was incorporated into the State of Himachal Pradesh as a province.
The Mian families
Most of the Rajputs in Bilaspur are Chandelas, that is they belong to different branches of the ruling family. These families are numerous, and all enjoyed jagir pensions from state amounting in aggregate to Rs. 40,000 a year in 1933. They are called 'the Mian families', and the chief names are: