Vice Regal Lodge
By 1808 Gurkha invaders had conquered many of the fortified posts near Shimla/Simla and began their ruthless rule over neighbouring hill states, so the locals appealed for British help. A small British force under Maj Gen David Ochterlony arrived and the majority of hill chiefs responded to his call. After the Anglo-Nepalese war heated up in 1814 and continued till 1816, the British East India Co transferred control of the region to Maharaja of Patiala, rewarding him for allying with the British.
Once defeated by superior British guns, the Gurkhas HAD to sign a treaty, allowing the British East India Company to retain the strategic forts. All the Chieftains who helped the British expel the Gurkhas were restored to their land under British protection.
Shimla’s history can be divided into 1]the British era and 2]post-Indian Independence. In the British era the image of Goddess Kali was shifted to a new place, now Kali Bari Temple. Only in 1819 did the Assist. Political Agent of Hill States Lt Ross have a British wooden cottage. His successor Lt Charles Kennedy erected the first proper house.
Shimla’s geography was rugged, built over several hills and up to 6000 ms high. Soon stories about Shimla’s climate resembling Britain reached many officers, and increasing numbers of officers started visiting town in the hot, humid Indian summer. Slowly the people who came to stay started increasing so they built houses and offices for the senior officers. When the suitable accommodation was available, Gov Generals and Commanders-in-chief moved in. The other senior officers, their families and staff stayed at Shimla for a social life. Then Indian businessmen followed to cater for British demand for supplies and services, and new boarding schools were established for upper-class students.
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Building Hindustan Tibet Road was started in 1850-1, commencing from Kalka and then up to Shimla. The Road was used for wheeled traffic, then a very long tunnel was built.
The First War of Independence spread over most of the country in 1857, but Shimla remained unaffected. Christ Church was built in the neo-Gothic style in 1857, largely to serve the Anglican British people on the open Ridge, still an enduring legacy of the Raj.
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Towards the top of Ridge,
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Shimla’s history can be divided into 1]the British era and 2]post-Indian Independence. In the British era the image of Goddess Kali was shifted to a new place, now Kali Bari Temple. Only in 1819 did the Assist. Political Agent of Hill States Lt Ross have a British wooden cottage. His successor Lt Charles Kennedy erected the first proper house.
Shimla’s geography was rugged, built over several hills and up to 6000 ms high. Soon stories about Shimla’s climate resembling Britain reached many officers, and increasing numbers of officers started visiting town in the hot, humid Indian summer. Slowly the people who came to stay started increasing so they built houses and offices for the senior officers. When the suitable accommodation was available, Gov Generals and Commanders-in-chief moved in. The other senior officers, their families and staff stayed at Shimla for a social life. Then Indian businessmen followed to cater for British demand for supplies and services, and new boarding schools were established for upper-class students.
Christ Church
Beauty of India
Building Hindustan Tibet Road was started in 1850-1, commencing from Kalka and then up to Shimla. The Road was used for wheeled traffic, then a very long tunnel was built.
The First War of Independence spread over most of the country in 1857, but Shimla remained unaffected. Christ Church was built in the neo-Gothic style in 1857, largely to serve the Anglican British people on the open Ridge, still an enduring legacy of the Raj.
The Ridge
In 1863 Viceroy of India John Lawrence moved the capital of British India from Calcutta each winter, to Shimla each summer. In 1864 Shimla was formally declared Summer Capital; the mass migration of viceroys, military attaches, 5,000 imperial staff, families and servants continued for decades. But note the rugged 1,900 ks trip by bullock cart from Calcutta took 5 tough days. In 1876 Lord Lytton started town planning, including administrative, town hall, library and theatres.
Shimla sits on a panoramic site, surrounded by green pastures and snow-capped peaks. The spectacular cool hills still have the colonial era structures that create an aura, very different from other hill stations. Expanding rapidly, Shimla retained its colonial heritage, with grand old buildings, the stately Vice-regal Lodge, charming iron lamp posts and Anglo-Saxon names. See inside the imposing, extravagant Vice-regal Lodge which later housed a series of British rulers eg Lords Elgin, Canning, Curzon and Mountbatten.
The government’s Kalka-Shimla narrow-gauge railway line opened in 1903, increasing the town’s accessibility, and boosting its development. This railway line was known as the British Jewel of Orient but governing from afar, even with the telegraph, had consequences
The Imperial summer capital was from where 1/5 of humanity was once ruled. Still, the Viceroy directly ruled a larger population than the British monarch. Modern-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma and Sri Lanka were governed from Shimla amid colonial picnics, balls, hunts, cocktail parties, races, polo games and cricket matches. Shimla combined the British idyll with the entire resources of the Indian subcontinent, but solely for elites and their servants.
In 1863 Viceroy of India John Lawrence moved the capital of British India from Calcutta each winter, to Shimla each summer. In 1864 Shimla was formally declared Summer Capital; the mass migration of viceroys, military attaches, 5,000 imperial staff, families and servants continued for decades. But note the rugged 1,900 ks trip by bullock cart from Calcutta took 5 tough days. In 1876 Lord Lytton started town planning, including administrative, town hall, library and theatres.
Shimla sits on a panoramic site, surrounded by green pastures and snow-capped peaks. The spectacular cool hills still have the colonial era structures that create an aura, very different from other hill stations. Expanding rapidly, Shimla retained its colonial heritage, with grand old buildings, the stately Vice-regal Lodge, charming iron lamp posts and Anglo-Saxon names. See inside the imposing, extravagant Vice-regal Lodge which later housed a series of British rulers eg Lords Elgin, Canning, Curzon and Mountbatten.
The government’s Kalka-Shimla narrow-gauge railway line opened in 1903, increasing the town’s accessibility, and boosting its development. This railway line was known as the British Jewel of Orient but governing from afar, even with the telegraph, had consequences
The Imperial summer capital was from where 1/5 of humanity was once ruled. Still, the Viceroy directly ruled a larger population than the British monarch. Modern-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma and Sri Lanka were governed from Shimla amid colonial picnics, balls, hunts, cocktail parties, races, polo games and cricket matches. Shimla combined the British idyll with the entire resources of the Indian subcontinent, but solely for elites and their servants.
Elegant social life for British citizens in Shimla
PeepulTree
Kipling, who visited Shimla frequently in the 1880s, wrote of the intense flirtation, trysts and steamy social life. Scores of young British girls, in search of suitable husbands, turned up in Shimla ready to impress, only to find stiff rivalry from more experienced ladies in their 40s visiting alone.
But if Brits were romantic with their own, they shunned everyone else. Simla was an escape from “native culture” since social interaction between races was not tolerated. Its neighbourhoods reflected the stark divisions. At the top of the Ridge lived the Viceroy, senior British officers and wealthy residents. Britons who permanently resided in India and mixed-race Anglo-Indians lived a tier below, around the Mall and central part of town. And the Indian coolies, labourers, rickshaw pullers and washer women lived in the Lower Bazaar, their inferior status clear to all.
But if Brits were romantic with their own, they shunned everyone else. Simla was an escape from “native culture” since social interaction between races was not tolerated. Its neighbourhoods reflected the stark divisions. At the top of the Ridge lived the Viceroy, senior British officers and wealthy residents. Britons who permanently resided in India and mixed-race Anglo-Indians lived a tier below, around the Mall and central part of town. And the Indian coolies, labourers, rickshaw pullers and washer women lived in the Lower Bazaar, their inferior status clear to all.
houses became bigger and classier.
In 1946 Indian nationalist leaders came to Shimla for a crucial conference that paved the way to Independence. Post-Independence, 28 nearby princely states were merged and the state of Himachal Pradesh started with India’s Constitution in Jan 1950. Shimla was the state capital.
Annandale, a strategic site near the Ridge, houses the special Army Heritage Museum, established in 2006 May by Army Training Command Shimla. The history is from ancient times, so see weapons, ammunitions, medals and uniforms of great Indian warriors, all the way to the developed Indian Army today. And see the surrender letter of Pakistan’s 1971 war. Annandale was also a centre of sports grounds for cricket, riding and polo.
The government and the wealthy still colonise the Ridge. But now a new generation of young Indians consider the town a permanent home they love and are preserving. Today heritage buildings are Shimla’s core economic asset, and tourism of the colonial past is keen. The small, narrow-gauge train still chugs in from the flat below so tourists can roam the charming, pedestrianised shopping Mall.
In 1946 Indian nationalist leaders came to Shimla for a crucial conference that paved the way to Independence. Post-Independence, 28 nearby princely states were merged and the state of Himachal Pradesh started with India’s Constitution in Jan 1950. Shimla was the state capital.
Annandale, a strategic site near the Ridge, houses the special Army Heritage Museum, established in 2006 May by Army Training Command Shimla. The history is from ancient times, so see weapons, ammunitions, medals and uniforms of great Indian warriors, all the way to the developed Indian Army today. And see the surrender letter of Pakistan’s 1971 war. Annandale was also a centre of sports grounds for cricket, riding and polo.
The government and the wealthy still colonise the Ridge. But now a new generation of young Indians consider the town a permanent home they love and are preserving. Today heritage buildings are Shimla’s core economic asset, and tourism of the colonial past is keen. The small, narrow-gauge train still chugs in from the flat below so tourists can roam the charming, pedestrianised shopping Mall.
Train has a steep climb up to Shimla
Read Raja Bhasin’s book, Simla, the summer capital of British India, 2011.