Until the Sutlej goes dry

"Until the Sutlej goes dry, crows become white, horses get horns, and stones produce hair or wool"

This this is how long Raja Kehar (or Kehri) Singh and the 5th Dalai Lama expected the trade treaty to last which they signed in the 17th century between the Kingdoms of Bushahr in the Himalayan foothills and Tibet. 

Of course neither ruler anticipated the political upheavals that were to follow.  First, the Bushahr kingdom was occupied by the Gorkha kings of Nepal and then after the Treaty of Sugauli between the British and the Nepalis, the Bushahr kings retained their throne only as a token under British rule. Then in 1948 the kingdom formally got assimilated in independent India. And while Sutlej continued to flow, crows remained black and stones had not yet sprouted wool, on the other side of the Himalayas the rulers of Tibet had to flee to India in the face of the advancing Chinese armies.

However, although legally the 17th century trade treaty became null and void within a century of its signing, the commercial interests of all parties involved in these events kept the spirit of the treaty alive. The most important outcome of the treaty had been the Lavi International trade fair. Well, "International trade fairs" is a modern concept but that is what effectively the annual gathering of "Lavi Mela" was, which still happens even today every November. Traders from Tibet, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan and the central Asian states used to come here especially with horses, dry fruit, wool, pashmin and sheep. In return, these traders used to take salt, jaggery and other rations from Rampur. Today ofcourse its complexion has changed completely, horses and swords and sheep are no longer the primary items of trade, they have been replaced by more modern goods but the Trade Fair is just as if not more boisterous and colorful as it once must have been.

Rampur Bushahr (which was the winter capital of the mountain kingdom) enjoyed a strategically important location on several important ancient trade routes which connected Tibet, Afghanistan and the lowlands of northern India. As it happened Rampur was also located on the ancient pilgrimage routes to sacred sites in western Tibet shared by Hindus, Bön (the ancient religion of Tibet) and Buddhists alike, i.e., Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar, through the Shipki pass near present day Kinnaur. All this trading activity and tax revenue (that must have been considerable in those days because in the Bushahr-Tibet trade treaty there is a specific exemption from taxes granted by both states to the other's citizens) made Bushahr the richest of the mountain kingdoms! 

We passed through Rampur Bushahr twice - on our way to Kibbar, Spiti and then on our way back from Spiti to Chandigarh, both times spending a night at the hotel which stands on the grounds of the beautiful palace. The town itself looked like any other small north Indian town - crowded, disorganised, dusty, dirty and uninteresting. 

I wish I had known of the importance of its "commercial" history then, I would have roamed around in the town a bit more and taken a few more photos before dismissing it as "uninteresting". Given its history I am sure besides the  palace itself, I would have found other interesting footprints of its past! As it happens all I have are these photos of the palace and its grounds!