Tirthan Valley
More actions
| Tirthan Valley | |
|---|---|
| ActiveGrown here in 2000 or later | |
| |
| The Tirthan in its gorge in the Great Himalayan National Park | |
| Hierarchy | |
| Gene Pool | South Asian Gene Pool |
| Regional Complex | Hindu Kush-Himalayan |
| Growing Region | Western Himalayas |
| Geography | |
| Country | India |
| Province/State | Himachal Pradesh |
| District | Kullu District |
| Coordinates | 31.64, 77.40 |
| Landscape | |
| Elevation | 1,981–2,900 m |
| Terrain | Valley of the Tirthan from its source at Hanskund Peak to its junction with the Sainj above Larji; a deep, forested glen above Manglaur and rocky gorges below it, with small villages along the river |
| Climate | |
| Climate Type | Western Himalayan temperate and alpine; monsoon rain from mid-June to mid-September; snow in winter |
| Seasons | Spring (Apr–Jun), rains (Jul–Sep), autumn (Oct–Nov), winter (Dec–Mar) |
| Growing history | |
| Dated accessions | 1888 |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | 0 |
| Accessions | 2 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Tirthan Valley is a landrace cannabis growing area in the Western Himalayas growing region, comprising the valley of the Tirthan river in Kullu District, Himachal Pradesh, India. The valley takes its name from a sacred spring, "Tirth", which rises at Hanskund Peak (4,800 m).[1] Its headwaters lie in the World Heritage property of the Great Himalayan National Park.[2] The river runs south-west, then west and north-west, to join the Sainj just above the Sainj's own junction with the Beas at Larji.[3]: 5 The valley lies in Banjar tehsil.[4]: 4 In the colonial period it lay in Inner Saraj, the part of the Saraj tahsil between the Sainj and the Jalori ridge.[5]: 5–6[3]: 5 The upper Jibhi Gad, which runs down from the Jalori Pass by Banjar to the Tirthan, belongs to the separate Jalori growing area.[3]: 131
Cannabis sativa, under the local name bhang, has been found in the park on survey transects that include one from Gushaini to Ropa.[6]: 201[7]: Appendix, p. 232 The park's management plan for 2010 to 2020 describes hemp as "a local fiber being used by the villagers for their local requirements".[7]: Part 2, p. 105 In the villages on the boundary of the Tirthan Wildlife Sanctuary its seeds are eaten as a wild food.[8]: 7 In 2005 The Tribune reported villagers' complaints from Glincha, one of "the remotest villages in the Tirthan valley", that a team of the police and the Narcotics Control Bureau came every year to destroy their cannabis.[9] A population sold by Coco Genes from Nadar, which its listing places in Pekhri in the "Tirthan valley", is documented as COC-IND-HIM-0120210004.[10]
Geography
The Tirthan rises at Hanskund Peak and flows through forest to Gushaini, where it is joined by the Palchan Nallah.[1] The study of land change describes the same junction differently: "Tirthan khad and Palachan Gad merge at Gushaini to form the Tirthan River".[4]: 4 The 1897 gazetteer of the district describes the river flowing west, parallel to the Sainj, "as far as the village of Manglaur on the Mandi border" and then turning north to join it.[5]: 5 Down to Manglaur the river "traverses a deep, narrow, winding glen densely clothed with forest growth"; below Manglaur it passes "through a series of bare rocky gorges" to Larji.[5]: 6 From Manglaur to its mouth the river formed the boundary between Kulu and Mandi State.[11]: 1 The main landforms of the valley are "incised meanders, river built and river-cut terraces, cliffs, and steep slopes", with "small villages that exist along the river".[1]
Larji stands at 3,160 feet (about 960 m).[3]: 2 A survey of dragonflies and damselflies along 28 km of the river in 2018 ran from Nagini, at 1,475 m, to Chalocha, at 2,450 m.[12]: 19612 In 1917 the rest-house at Banjar stood at 5,000 feet (about 1,520 m) and the one at Bathad at 6,000 feet (about 1,830 m).[3]: 135–136 Bathad lies "in the valley of a tributary of the Tirthan".[5]: 108 Three tributaries join the Tirthan: the main one, "coming from Sri Kandh" (another name for the Jalori ridge), joins the left bank at Bandal; another "flows northwards from the Jalori pass through Banjár"; and a third joins at Manglor, along the western boundary of Saraj.[3]: 2, 5 A. F. P. Harcourt wrote in 1871 that the Tirthan runs through "a sterile country" for its first twenty-five miles, after which "the valley lowers, and villages become numerous". He called this part of Seoraj "densely inhabited".[13]: 44
The old road from Kulu to Rampur left the main road near Banjar and went up the Tirthan valley. Its first stage, from Manglaur to Bathad, was 17 miles, with a halt halfway at Gushaini, where porters were changed and the road crossed and recrossed the river. Beyond Bathad the road crossed the Basleo Pass, 11,000 feet by the 1897 gazetteer, to Sarahan.[5]: 108 The 1917 gazetteer describes "a good road" from Banjar to the rest-house at Bathad, passing the forest bungalow at Bandal, "where the Forest roads from Jibhi and Nohanda meet". It puts the pass, which it calls the Bashleo, at 10,750 feet.[3]: 132, 136
Saraj and Banjar
Inner Saraj, one of the old revenue divisions (waziris) of Kulu, comprised the south bank of the Sainj together with "the valley of the Tirthan stream".[5]: 5 It covered 299 square miles, south of the Sainj "up to the Jalori range".[3]: 5 By 1897 the headquarters of the Saraj tahsil stood at Banjar.[5]: 107 Banjar now gives its name to a sub-division, a tehsil and a development block of the district. The town is a nagar panchayat.[14] Gushaini, Bathad, Jibhi and Manglaur are among the flood-prone places of the Banjar sub-division.[15]: 19
The national park and its buffer zone
The Tirthan valley is part of the national park's buffer zone.[1] In 1994 a buffer zone 5 km wide on the park's western edge was declared an ecozone of 265.6 km², "home to around 2,300 households across 160 villages". In the same year the Tirthan Wildlife Sanctuary, of 61 km², was established on the park's southern edge. The park itself was constituted in 1984 and notified as a national park in 1999. It lies in the Banjar sub-division.[16] The park and the Tirthan and Sainj sanctuaries were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2014 as the Great Himalayan National Park Conservation Area. The World Heritage Committee's statement on the property calls the Tirthan sanctuary "uninhabited but currently subject to traditional grazing" and names agriculture among the threats from human settlement, which it says "pose the greatest concern". The committee asked India to speed up the resolution of community rights issues in the two sanctuaries, "including in relation to the phasing out of grazing in the Tirthan Wildlife Sanctuary".[2]
Climate
The park's climate is "typically the Western Himalayan temperate and alpine type", with four seasons: spring from April to June, the rains from July to September, autumn in October and November and winter from December to March. Precipitation is "moderate over most of the year and abundant during monsoon from mid-June to mid-September". In winter it falls as snow even at 1,560 m. Mean annual rainfall at Niharni and Sainj, in the Sainj valley, was 1,155.7 mm and 1,158.3 mm for 1992 to 1994. The highest recent annual total was 1,298 mm, and temperatures ranged from −10 to 40 °C, January being the coldest month and June the hottest.[6]: 24 A. H. Diack's settlement report of 1898 describes the high pastures "towards the sources of the Parbati, Sainj and Tirthan rivers", where "the monsoon rainfall though almost continuous takes the form of a thin drizzle or Scotch mist".[11]: 36
History
Hemp in the colonial record
A report of 1880 by Alexander Anderson, printed with his evidence to the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission in 1894, reports "72 acres, viz., 33 acres in Kulu, and 39 acres in Plach" under hemp cultivation and 204 acres of spontaneous growth, 94 in the Kulu tahsil and 110 in Plach.[17]: 379 Harcourt's description of 1871 has the Tirthan "passing Plach" on its way to Larji. It names the "Naib Tehsildar of Plach, who resides at Plach, in Seoraj".[13]: 43, 89 Diack wrote in 1898 that the Saraj tahsil was "often erroneously called Plách from the name of the village in which the old tahsíl building was situated". He added that the two waziris of Saraj formed "the Plách tahsíl".[11]: 1–2
Anderson's report describes bhangolu, parched hemp seed eaten against the cold, as "found in largest quantity in Rupi and Seoraj". It adds that "the Seorajis sell or exchange bhangolu for wool with the Lahoulis who eat it and also sow it".[17]: 379 "In places where much hemp is grown for fibre the seed is eaten", and parched maize or wheat, "sometimes mixed with hemp-seed", was a favourite dish at harvest.[3]: 77
George Watt collected a cannabis specimen on 1 October 1888 "on the descent to Manglaur from Bathad", at 6,500 feet by his label (Watt 9644 (1888)). The label adds that "in this & in many other localities only the female plants are allowed to grow".[18]
Traditional cultivation
In the park Cannabis sativa, locally "Bhang", is a medicinal herb of 2,100 to 2,700 m, found on the transects coded T1, T8, T9, S1 and J1 in surveys reported by the Wildlife Institute of India in 1999.[6]: 187, 201 The transects run from Gushaini to Ropa (T8), Devta to Supdhar (T1), Supadhar to Neuli (S1) and Siund to Majhan (J1).[7]: Appendix, p. 232 As "Bang" it was among the "Plants which were commercially exploited before creation of GHNP", in the temperate zone of 2,000 to 2,800 m, and it is one of the park's "Plants of ethnobotanical value in and around GHNP".[6]: 211–213 Cannabis grows in the undergrowth and ground cover of the park's forests.[7]: Part 1, p. 16
The management plan states: "Hemp is a local fiber being used by the villagers for their local requirements. However, use of hemp for trafficking in narcotic has brought it a bad name in the region." It proposes training and workshops "to make hemp or grass-based handicrafts and souvenirs" and "awareness programmes for hemp based products and discourage its trafficking in narcotics". Such workshops were held under the previous plan.[7]: Part 1, pp. 74–75; Part 2, p. 105 "Hemp produce" was among the enterprises of the women's savings and credit groups organised in the park's buffer zone. The plan says that the groups decided on "hemp based handicrafts", among other activities, "with a little facilitation from the Park management".[7]: Part 1, p. 62; Part 2, p. 100
The survey of wild foods, published in 2017, covered eight villages on the boundary of the Tirthan Wildlife Sanctuary: Gilingcha, Ghadincha, Thanegad, Mashiyar, Kamera, Majaili, Ghaliyaad and Saroot. In these villages Cannabis sativa, "Bhang", is a herb of 2,100 to 2,500 m whose seed is eaten.[8]: 5, 7
Appellations
No appellation pages exist for this growing area yet.
Accessions
| Accession ID | Name | Locality | Elevation | Collected |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| COC-IND-HIM-0120210004 | Nadar General Population 2021 | Nadar | 2,900 m | |
| Watt 9644 (1888) | Watt 9644 herbarium specimen, Bathad–Manglaur road (1888) | 1,981 m |
COC-IND-HIM-0120210004 is a population from Nadar sold by Coco Genes in its "2021 season" category. The listing places the village in Pekhri, "Tirthan valley", at "approx 2900 m in the eco-zone of the Great Himalayan National park", while its description begins "Located inside the Great himalayan national park". It describes the village as reached by "a dangerous trek up the hairpin bends with a single man passage way", with "2-4" households "traditionally employed in cattle herding and traditional medicinal herb collection". It lists two images, "seed collection from village" and "traditional hemp shoes". The collection is credited to Rob Stone.[10]
Enforcement
Cannabis cultivation and the production of charas are offences under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.[19] The Tribune reported from Glincha in October 2005 that three pupils there were giving up their studies because, they said, the anti-cannabis team had destroyed their parents' "only source of income, charas". It counted over 40 pupils leaving school in Glincha, Bashiar, Kamerah and Majhali. The paper wrote that in the view of the Narcotics Control Bureau and the Kulu police six panchayats, Bashiar, Toong, Shili, Nehand, Shindi and Kandidhar, together with four in the Manikaran-Malana valley and four in the Thachi areas of Mandi district, had "emerged as a major charas-producing area". Its correspondent found the plants "scattered in the villages", with most of the crop on forest land "to avoid the police action". Villagers said that "even the girdwari of 1960s mentioned that the cannabis is cultivated here for local fiber for pulas (snow shoes), ropes and the seeds for local dish and medicine for domestic animals". The bureau's superintendent, O. P. Sharma, said that cultivation had fallen "by over 80 per cent in the cannabis belt of Malana-Maikaran and Banjar" since the campaigns began in 2001. He added: "There is provision under the NDPS Act that provides for legalisation of the cannabis for the fiber based handicrafts". The park's forest ranger for the Tirthan said that villagers were not allowed to collect firewood or herbs in the park: "No human activity is allowed in the park".[9]
In September 2019 the district's Superintendent of Police said that organised cultivation, found in the Parbati and Manikaran valleys, had also been found "in Banjar and Sainj valleys".[20] A report of the same week on the state police's plans to use drones listed Banjar and Sainj among the cultivation areas of Kullu district.[21] In January 2021 a joint police team raided "the Banjar area" and seized about 111 kg of charas.[22] A report of November 2021 named Banjar among the areas of Kullu whose charas "is known as Malana cream".[23] In April 2022 the police destroyed 160 kg of charas, 120 cannabis plants and 80 opium plants seized in 43 cases, 37 of them in Banjar. The same report recalled "the state’s biggest haul of charas of 123.5 kg from the Banjar area".[24]
Conservation status
The Zomia Collective's regional index lists "Gushaini Valley" among its Kullu district entries and tags it "[Status Unknown] [Undocumented]". The same page describes cultivation in the "Sainj and Tirthan Valleys" as "reported but underdocumented".[25]
Recent news
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Tirthan Valley". Great Himalayan National Park. Retrieved 28 September 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Decision 38 COM 8B.7: Great Himalayan National Park Conservation Area (India)". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 Punjab District Gazetteers, Vol. XXX-A: Kangra District, Parts II–IV (Kulu, Lahul and Spiti). Lahore: Government of Punjab. 1918 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Irfan, Mohammad; Negi, Vivek; Vatsal, Aarti (2023). "Land change in Tirthan Valley: the case of Great Himalayan National Park Conservation Area". Journal of Human Ecology. 83 (1–3): 1–16. doi:10.31901/24566608.2023/83.1-3.3355.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 Diack, A.H. (1899). Gazetteer of the Kangra District, Parts II to IV: Kulu, Lahul and Spiti, 1897. Lahore: Punjab Government – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 The Republic of India's Nomination of the Great Himalayan National Park for Inscription on the World Heritage List (PDF) (Report). January 2011. Retrieved 28 September 2026 – via UNESCO World Heritage Centre.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 Srivastav, Ajay. Great Himalayan National Park Management Plan (April 2010 to March 2020) (PDF) (Report). Retrieved 28 September 2026 – via UNESCO World Heritage Centre.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Thakur, Shalu Devi (June 2017). "Diversity, distribution and utilization pattern of some forestry foods (wild edibles) from Tirthan Wildlife Sanctuary of Distt. Kullu, Himachal Pradesh" (PDF). International Journal of Advances in Science Engineering and Technology. 5 (2, Special Issue 2): 4–11. ISSN 2321-9009. Retrieved 29 September 2026.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Chauhan, Kuldeep (6 October 2005). "Hardships multiply for cannabis growers". The Tribune. Tribune News Service.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Nadar | Pekhri village : Rob stone collection". Collector's Collective. Archived from the original on 27 June 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2026.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Diack, A. H. (1898). Final Report on the Revised Settlement of the Kulu Sub-division of the Kangra District – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Singh, Amar Paul; De, Kritish; Uniyal, Virendra Prasad; Sathyakumar, Sambandam (2021). "A preliminary assessment of odonate diversity along the river Tirthan, Great Himalayan National Park Conservation Area, India with reference to the impact of climate change". Journal of Threatened Taxa. 13 (11): 19611–19615. doi:10.11609/jott.5427.13.11.19611-19615.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Harcourt, A. F. P. (1871). The Himalayan Districts of Kooloo, Lahoul, and Spiti. London: W. H. Allen & Co. – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ "Administrative Setup". District Kullu. Government of Himachal Pradesh. Retrieved 27 September 2026.
- ↑ District Disaster Management Plan, Kullu (PDF) (Report). District Disaster Management Authority, Kullu. 2017.
- ↑ "Park Introduction GHNP | Discover Himachal's Natural Treasure". Great Himalayan National Park. Retrieved 28 September 2026.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94, Vol. V: Evidence of witnesses from North-Western Provinces and Oudh and Punjab. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. Punjab witness no. 10, Mr. Alexander Anderson, pp. 377–380 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ "Digitised sheet E00248828: Cannabis sativa L." RBGE IIIF image service. Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Retrieved 16 September 2026.
- ↑ The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985(Act No. 61 of 1985), 1985, sections 2(iii) and 8.India.
- ↑ Manta, Dipender (23 September 2019). "Cannabis cultivation on in Kullu, Mandi". The Tribune. Tribune News Service.
- ↑ Lohumi, Bhanu P (24 September 2019). "Drones to spot cannabis crop in Himachal". The Tribune. Tribune News Service.
- ↑ "Huge cache of cannabis worth Rs 4 cr seized in Kullu Valley". Daijiworld. Daijiworld Media Network. IANS. 14 January 2021.
- ↑ Manta, Dipender (16 November 2021). "Despite vigil, cannabis cultivation goes on in Kullu". The Tribune. Tribune News Service.
- ↑ "Charas destroyed in Kullu". The Tribune. 30 April 2022.
- ↑ "Growing Regions". Zomia Collective. Retrieved 27 September 2026.