About District

Famous for the child saint shrine “Shri Baba Balak Nath Deoth Sidh“, district lies in the South-West part of the state and constitute the central micro region of Himachal Pradesh. Tract is hilly, covered by Shivalik Range situated between 76º 18′ to 76º 44’ East Longitudes and 31º 25′ to 31º 52′ North Latitude. The elevation varies from 400 meters to 1100 meters. The history of district Hamirpur is intimately associated with the Katoch dynasty which ruled the region between Ravi and Satluj known as ‘Trigerta‘. Hamirpur derived its name from Raja Hamir Chand who ruled this area from 1700 AD to 1740 AD.

Hamirpur is the most literate district of the state and is well connected by roads from all sides. District shares its geographical boundaries with Bilaspur, Mandi, Kangra and Una districts. Majority of the people serve in the defence services, thus also known as “Veer Bhoomi”.

Languages Spoken

People of the Hamirpur district speak dialects of western Pahari. These dialects are akin to other dialects spoken in the adjoining areas of Mandi, Bilaspur and Kangra districts. According to the classification of languages made by the Linguistic Survey of India, Pahari comes under Indo-European family of languages. It has further been classified as a language belonging to Aryan Subfamily, Indo-Aryan Branch, Inner Sub-Branch, Pahari Group and Western Pahari Sub-Group (Census of India 1961, Vol.I.India,Part II-C (ii) Language Tables,p.CLXX). Western Pahari includes a number of district dialects. Besides Western Pahari, bulk of the population of Hamirpur district also speak Hindi. Punjabi is also spoken in some parts of the district.

Living & Food Habits

Generally, people have the pucca houses in the district. This is primarily because stone is available in abundance. Besides this, slates for roofs are also available in nearby quarries in the adjoining districts. People, indeed, have developed a taste for modern houses and the traditional stones are getting replaced by bricks, corrugated sheets and marvel. About 92% population of this district lives in the Rural areas and they are agriculturist. They grow Wheat, Barley, Gram, Masar etc. in the Rabi season and Maize, Paddy, Blackgram, Kulth etc. in the Kharif season. People like Wheat, Rice as well as Maize Roties with Lassi and Sarson Ka Sag. They also like Curry. Many people have shifted towards the Cash Crops instead of conventional farming and number of Poly Houses have been erected with the active support of the Agriculture and Horticulture departments. Some people also eat meat and drink. Fish is easily available in the Rivers, Khads and Nallahs, which flow through the district. Population living in the rural areas keep Goats, Sheeps, Cows, Buffaloes etc. and some people in rural as well as urban areas are also running Poultry Forms which easily meet the demand of the district. To meet out the heavy demand of the fish in the urban areas, Fishery Department also import the fish from the neighboring districts viz; Bilaspur and Una.

River System

The district is covered by a number of perennial streams which are tributaries of either river Beas or river Satluj. Bakar Khad, Kunah Khad and Man Khad drain into river Beas, while Sukar Khad and Mundkhar Khad drain into Seer Khad which ultimately mingles into the river Satluj.

Fauna & Flora

The various species of plants and forest trees generally found in the district are Kikar, Khair, Bil, Sirish, Ambla, Neem, Kachnar, Taur, Kasmal etc. The wild animal species commonly found in the district are namely Leopard, Hare, Wild Boar, Jackal, Kakar, Sambhar and Monkeys. Among the birds, commonly found are namely Chakor, Crow, Jungli Murga, Kala Titar, Safed Titar and Woodpecker etc.

Climate

The district falls in the humid sub-tropical zone. The climate of the district has four broad seasons. The winter generally spread over from December to February. The period from March to June is summer. Hot and rainy season generally extends from July to September. October and November exhibit autumn. The temperature during the winter months is too cold. The district receives the plentiful rains during the monsoon period. During summer the days are extremely hot.

The maximum rainfall is observed in the district during July to August and minimum in the months of April and October. The hottest month is May and coldest month is January in the district. Maximum and minimum day time temperature recorded in the district ranges from 20˚C to 40˚C.