Tosh
More actions
| Tosh | |
|---|---|
| Hierarchy | |
| Growing Region | Western Himalayas |
| Growing Area | Parvati Valley |
| Geography | |
| Country | India |
| Province/State | Himachal Pradesh |
| District | Kullu District |
| Tehsil | Bhuntar Tehsil |
| Coordinates | 32.0144, 77.4519 |
| Settlement | |
| Type | Village |
| Access | By road from Barshaini |
| Landscape | |
| Elevation | 2,400–2,639 m |
| Terrain | Mountainside in the upper Parvati Valley |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | Tosh |
| Accessions | 7 |
Tosh is a village in the upper Parvati Valley in Kullu District, Himachal Pradesh, India. It stands at the end of a road built from Barshaini, and the collection documentation of the Zomia Collective describes it as a village that produces charas.[1] Seven accessions carry Tosh as their locality. Six were collected in 2022 and 2025 and are held in the Zomia Genetic Library; the seventh is a Coco Genes line from the 2021 season. The fields of Tosh-Kutla lie above the village, and Tosh gives its name to an appellation. It was one of the five villages of a 2015–2017 survey of the uses of wild hemp in the Manikaran valley.[2]
Geography
The village collection sites lie at 2,400 to 2,535 m and the selection from the fields above the village at 2,639 m. The collection documentation gives 2,400 to 3,000 m for its village lots and 3,000 to 3,500 m for the upper fields.[1] The accessions from the Kutla fields and from Goi, Chhorang and Sharam Thatch further up carry Tosh-Kutla as their locality.
In 2022 The Tribune reported a trekking party that set out from Jagatsukh on 21 June and "reached Tosh village in the Parbati Valley on June 30" over the Doangan Col and the Animal Pass.[3] When the forest department banned camping at Kheerganga in 2024, The Tribune named Tosh, with Nakthan, Barshaini and Kalga, as the places where visitors could stay overnight.[4]
The 2011 census does not enumerate Tosh as a separate village.[5][6] It lies in Bhuntar tehsil, one of the district's seven tehsils.[7]
Cannabis cultivation
The collection documentation describes Tosh's cannabis as a high-altitude landrace grown for charas, sown in spring and harvested in October and November. It reports that the growth of Tosh as a tourist centre "has pushed cannabis cultivation higher into the surrounding mountains", and that the Kutla fields above the village were largely abandoned after law enforcement raids. It names the arrival of "hybridized commercial cannabis" as a concern, beside tourism and law enforcement.[1]
Four of the Zomia accessions come from the 2022 harvest, collected under the expedition code HIMA01: a general population gathered from plants throughout Tosh by villagers making charas, a selection from plants in and around the village, a selection from the upper fields and a selection of feral plants.[1] The other two are general populations from the village, collected on 29 October 2025. The Coco Genes accession is a general population from the 2021 season.
The Zomia Collective's index of growing regions tags Tosh village "Eradications Ongoing", a tag it defines as "Active eradication observed or reported". It leaves the upper fields untagged, which under the index's legend means they were directly documented or accessed.[8] ETV Bharat named Tosh among the places covered by the Central Bureau of Narcotics eradication operation in Kullu in September 2022.[9] In September 2026 the Hindi daily Punjab Kesari reported that the Narcotics Control Bureau, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and a Special Task Force had destroyed cannabis on 25 hectares at Tosh and Malana.[10]
The 2015–2017 survey found hemp used in the Manikaran valley for rope, pullan footwear and food, offered to Shiva and made into ghota at Shivratri. The survey gives these uses for the five villages together, not for Tosh alone.[2]
Visitors
Accessions
| Name | ID | Type | Elevation (m) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| COC-IND-HIM-0120210002 | Tosh General Population 2021 | COC-IND-HIM-0120210002 | General population | 2000 |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220027 | Tosh General Population 2022 | ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220027 | General population | 2535 |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220028 | Tosh 'Village' Selection 2022 | ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220028 | Selection | 2535 |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220029 | Tosh 'Upper' Selection 2022 | ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220029 | Selection | 2639 |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220030 | Tosh Feral Selection 2022 | ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220030 | Selection | 2535 |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1020250018 | Tosh Village General Population #1 2025 | ZOM-IND-HIM-1020250018 | General population | 2400 |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1020250019 | Tosh Village General Population #2 2025 | ZOM-IND-HIM-1020250019 | General population | 2400 |
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Tosh". Zomia Collective. Retrieved 27 September 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Rathore, S.; Shashni, S.; Samant, S.S.; Sundriyal, R.C. (2018). "Indigenous uses of wild hemp (Cannabis sativa) by the local inhabitants in Manikaran Valley of Himachal Pradesh, North Western Himalaya". Journal of Non-Timber Forest Products. 25 (3): 127–130. doi:10.54207/bsmps2000-2018-7393KF.
- ↑ Vashisht, Abhinav (4 July 2022). "Kullu: Youths explore new trekking route covering peaks of Deo Tibba, Doangan Col, Animal Pass". The Tribune.
- ↑ Vashisht, Abhinav (11 July 2024). "Camping prohibited in Kullu's Kheerganga area". The Tribune.
- ↑ Directorate of Census Operations, Himachal Pradesh (2014). District Census Handbook, Kullu: Village and Town Wise Primary Census Abstract (Report). Census of India 2011, Himachal Pradesh, Series 03, Part XII-B. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India.
- ↑ Directorate of Census Operations, Himachal Pradesh. Himachal Pradesh - Village Amenities (Spreadsheet (DH_2011_DCHB_Village_Release_0200.xlsx)). Census of India 2011, District Census Handbook, Kullu. Retrieved 27 September 2026.
- ↑ "Administrative Setup". District Kullu. Government of Himachal Pradesh. Retrieved 27 September 2026.
- ↑ "Growing Regions". Zomia Collective. Retrieved 27 September 2026.
- ↑ Central Bureau of Narcotics की बड़ी कार्रवाई, 13 हजार बीघा भूमि से नष्ट की चरस की खेती [Major Central Bureau of Narcotics operation: charas cultivation destroyed on 13,000 bigha of land]. ETV Bharat (in हिन्दी). 20 September 2022.
- ↑ Kullu: तोष और मलाणा में NCB, ITBP व STF की बड़ी कार्रवाई, 25 हैक्टेयर भूमि पर अवैध भांग की खेती नष्ट [Kullu: major action by the NCB, ITBP and STF at Tosh and Malana; illegal cannabis cultivation destroyed on 25 hectares]. Punjab Kesari (in हिन्दी). 27 September 2026. Retrieved 27 September 2026.
- ↑ Manta, Dipender (1 December 2018). "The curious case of missing foreigners". The Tribune.