Shimla - Chapter 5 & 6

Chapter 5

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Events of 1864 & 1875 on the Upper Bazaar

For the Mercantile & Business community of Shimla, there were only two dates of importance in the nineteenth century.

          1        The day in 1864, Shimla was declared as summer capital

          2.       The day of the 1875, when the fire broke out in the Upper Mall (The Ridge)

  

Shimla Declared Summer Capital in 1864

With Shimla declared as the summer capital by Viceroy Lord John Lawrence, Shimla mercantile community lead by Suds/Soods rejoiced. Now instead of a summer camp with limited number of people stationed, there would be a regular flow of about 1,500 British civil and military officials and 5-6,000 clerks and office workers coming to Shimla every April. In addition when in 1876, summer camp of local government of Punjab was relocated to Shimla from Murhee in Rawalpindi District, the Suds/Soods rejoiced more. There would be more people coming to Shimla in the summer than ever before. To satisfy their every need, about 8-10,000 natives stationed themselves in Shimla permanently. They would be domestic help, homebuilders and cleaners and sanitary workers etc. With the Hindustan-Tibet road operational and widened for Tonga, Yakka and Bullock Cart traffic, much of the government move and goods & services began to flow on that. The former route via Nadaun, Bilaspur etc. was abandoned. The civil supplies of grain, clothing materials and building materials became cheaper as the cost of transportation decreased. 

The house building activities multiplied every season soon after 1870 with greater housing demand hence Suds/Soods other than being grain merchants, became hardware, timber and other building supplies merchants. They supplied every British need and procured these items in the plains of Punjab or Calcutta. For timber they went to the interior along the Hindustan-Tibet Road. In addition they supplied grain for 2,000 horses, which plied on the Cart Road from Ambala to Shimla.  In reverse the new road carried wool from Tibet to the plains of Punjab. A little later The British began to source all supplies needs for the British soldiers stationed in cantonments at Sabathu, Jutog and Daghshahi from Shimla, instead of contracting them in the plains. That was a big push for the grain merchants of Shimla. A little later, as the little Rajahs in the northeast saw easy supplies at their doorsteps, they also began to source their needs at Shimla and transport these on newly built Hindustan-Tibet Road. Hence Shimla soon became a major supply centre.

By about 1880, the more aristocratic British Gents and the Ladies could get their finest clothing from the British owned establishments of Hamilton & Co or Francis & Francis; go to Symmes & Co for their drugs and pharmacy needs; get a photograph taken at Bourne & Sheppard and if they desired buy jewellery they could use the services of Charles Napier & co. etc. In addition, in the Upper Bazaar, there were British owned hairdressers, drycleaners, grocers, and very early in 1860s, the British had established an organized laundry system. That saved them from hiring extra domestic help to do clothes laundry at home.

The Muslim community, which had a fair presence starting from 1840s, provided the best of the shoe making & clothes tailoring and other services in Hussein Baksh, Ahansullah, and Alif Khan etc. The craftsmen for building houses also, Punjabi Muslim, built the finest houses & cottages. The Muslim community also handled all repair and refurbishing services, which were in urgent demand after a four or five month shutdown of houses and the offices. The interesting part was that they all came and got their supplies from Suds/Soods in the Upper Bazaar or Edward Gunj.

This burst of fortune of the Sud/Sood community added to their prosperity. More and more Sud boys, aged 16-18 in Jaswan got ready to take full advantages of the opportunities. Risks were great. Parents may never see their children again, but these risks were worth taking as the rewards were great also. On return after a few seasons, they brought back enough money to turn the family fortunes around and build large houses. Some of these houses of stone & slate with multiple floors are still occupied today.

It was in 1873 that the authors Grandfather Lala Buta Mull arrived from his village in Pirsaluhi in Kangra. He was a bit better educated, as he was son of a moneylender, hence he had learnt accounting and Tankri script as a young man and was willing to work at any wages for anybody. Lala Nidha Mall, the founder of Nidha Mall Puran Mall knew his family background and hired him initially as a daily wager later as an accountant at the Ahrhat (Commission Agency) at their establishment at Edward Gunj. His major break came after the fire in the Upper Bazaar in 1876 when he became the head accountant and one "anna" - 6% partner in the business.

The Fire of 1876 at the Upper Bazaar

Fire was the major incident of British Shimla, which turned the Shimla Business community of Suds/Soods and others, upside down. The official story of the fire as per Edward Buck as published from previous notes of the official sources is as follows:

On May 16, 1875 a fire in the Upper Bazaar happened as follows:

               * Upper Bazaar,' - the town of Simla being then divided into an upper, a main, and a lower
               bazaar. The houses in the upper bazaar extended on both sides of the
               ridge from the turning down to Blessington to the take off to the Lakkar
               bazaar, with a narrow road of about ten feet running between them. This
               bazaar contained, besides a crowd of native shops of the ordinary kind, the
               Kotwali, the business premises of De Russet, a photographer, Messrs.
               Hamilton & West, drapers, Messrs. O'Connor & Peliti, confectioners, and
               the native firms of Hussain Bakhsh, Ahsanoollah and Alif Khan. A portion
               of De Russet's house was occupied by the office of the Revenue and Agricul-
               tural Department of the Government of India. In 1875 a fire broke out in
               the premises of Messrs. Hamilton & West, and several houses & shops in the upper bazaar
               were burnt to the ground. The municipality wisely prohibited
               rebuilding, compensated proprietors for their lost sites, levelled down the crest
               of the road, and planted the flourishing copse now existing between the Town
               Hall and the Church. Later, when the construction of the Town Hall was
               decided upon, the upper road was galleried out, the result being the fine open
               ridge now enjoyed by the inhabitants of the town.*

It is a sad and uncaring description of a major happening in Shimla. Whether lives were lost, there is no official record of that but there was a major property and inventory loss. All records pertaining to the fire were either wiped clean or transferred elsewhere.  These have never been seen again.  In all about 70 shops, a few British and mostly natives became rubble. The wealthy native community was once again made penniless. Whether the fire at Hamilton & West was a deliberately act or due to natural causes one will never know. The Shimla Municipal Committee under S.B. Goad was looking for an excuse to remove everything native from this area and he found this happening as a God sent opportunity to clean up the Ridge area. His reasons to grab this prime real estate were simple:

1. Flatten the area and remove any unsightly habitation to give a clean, pretty and panoramic view to the British tourists.
2. Make this portion of the town into a preserve of the British with western type of Promenade, City Hall, Theatre and shopping mall for the rich and famous.
3. Build a water tank underneath the flat ridge to meet the water needs of Shimla, later.

There is no shred of evidence left to show that a conspiracy existed to remove the Upper Bazaar. But truth in history written by the victor is very difficult to tell. Still the conspiracy theories persist. Soon after the dust had settled at the Upper Bazaar, they began building like Nero in Rome; buildings in their own European life style. They prohibited any native construction but welcomed the British owned businesses to re-establish themselves in the newly planned promenade, "The Mall". The Hindu & Muslim merchants who were affected could not complain. Moreover, there was no body to complain to.

Fire provided most of the excuses, if not all and an outbreak of Cholera as reported, provided the rest of the reasons to remove Indian presence from the vicinity of the Ridge. Shortly thereafter the Ridge area, which was a crest till then, was levelled and an unrivalled shopping district was built for the British to stroll and shop. It still exists today in its old glory.

Not to be dismayed, natives businesses were also compensated a bit and awarded lots in the newly planned Lower Bazaar, which was still at infancy. It was planned in between the Edward Gunj and Lower Bazaar Tunnel (yet to be built). They could not ignore Suds/Soods, who had no political clout but they sustained 15,000-population base with supplies. Hence they were awarded building permits on priority.

Most people agree that it was the fire incident of 1875, which made the present day layout and architecture of Shimla. That is not the question, it is the way they went around to eject the native population from an area they wanted for themselves. Now without saying it, they had implemented segregation policies of their European society on the subcontinent with unhindered vigour.

 

Chapter 6

Shimla 1817 to 1864

Events by Date

1817

• The British arrive in Shimla

 1818/19/20/21 AD

• Lord Hasting - Governor General of India
• 3rd Maratha- Anglo War completed with British in full control of Central India
• Gerard Brothers survey Jamuna & Sutlej corridor; Also see the Shimla Area
• Hooligansim in Shimla; Shyamala Devi Temple desecrated
• Lt. Ross builds a fist ramshackle cottage

1822/1823/1824 AD

• Lt Pratt Kennedy built a two floor house to rent to people who wish to come for rest & recuperation
• Lord Amherst - The new Governor General Of India
• Supplies arrive from Sabathu in horse/mule train with great difficulty
• Hill Rajahs press their claim for their jurisdiction

1825/1826/1827 AD

• Lord Amherst Visits Shimla Area
• Recommends negotiations to acquire the Shimla land from Maharaja of Patiala & Rana of Keonthal
• He recommends better communications to the area before more British subjects arrive

1828/1829/1830 AD

  

• Only existing pathway to Shimla via Kasauli, Kakkarhatti, Sairri to be improved
• Lord Combermere builds a road around mount Jakkho
• Lord William Bentick - Governor General arrives in Shimla
• Not much progress on communications made as the clauses of free labour (Beggar) in the Treaties stand in the way

 

1830/1831/1833 AD

• Edward Barnes, the Commander-in-Chief acquires land on the western slopes to build a house
• He acquires more land to enlarge the grounds on which the house to be built
• Suds/Soods from Jaswan arrive in Shimla

1834/1835/1836 AD

• Lord Auckland becomes the Governor General of India
• The Auckland House property is acquired from the previous owner Dr. Blake
• The construction of single storey house started in 1836
• His daughter Emily provides vivid details of the property and scenery surrounding it
• Lord Auckland lived there and later two other Governor Generals Lord Ellenbrough & Lord Hardinge lived there until 1848
• It became a school in 1866
• Sud/Soods bring mule & camel trains of grain to feed 3,000 souls
• Upper Bazaar begins functioning

1837/1838/1839 AD

  

• A plot of land donated to build a temple (now called Ram Mandir) by Sud/Sood brothers
• British construction of cottages and homes picks up pace, by 1940 there are one hundred in all

1841/1842/1843/1844/1845 AD

• Lord Hardinge becomes the Governor General of India
• Christ Church building design finalised on the Ridge
• This area becoming prime British area of activity
• New Kali Barhi Temple built. Idols of Shyamala Devi are installed in the temple together with Kali idols
• First Sikh war creates numerous invalids and convalescent soldiers who come to Shimla & Kasauli

 1846/1847/1848/1849 AD

• Lord Dalhousie becomes the Governor General of India
• A newspaper in English (Civil & Military Gazette) start functioning, later moved to Lahore
• Muslim community organize their own newspaper "Simla Akhbaar" begins operation but closes down in a year
• Plans to build Hindustan-Tibet Road, starting from Kalka to Tibet finalized
• Work on the above road started in 1848-49
• William Edwards, the then Deputy Commissioner prohibits commission agency business - Suds/Soods are worst affected
• Allocation of small portion of land to natives to build housing begins

1850/1851/1852/1853 AD

• Construction of the 12 feet wide road as mentioned above continued thru the British territory
• Elsewhere, labour from the Rajahs is requisitioned (free of Charge and as per treaties) to build the road thru their lands
• Wherever, if co-operation of Rajahs is not forthcoming then the Rajahs were asked to cede land to the British
• Telegraph passes thru Ambala
• Successor of William Edwards, William Hays withdraws the order to prohibit commission agency business
• 12 feet wide Kalka-Shimla road complete
• Shimla earns a name for vigorous social life

1854/1855/1856/1857 AD

• Lord Canning - The new Governor General of India
• Tumultuous years in the plains for British as signs of Mutiny (First war of Independence) appear
• Christ Church completed
• First mail service ran on the newly completed above Road
• Bullock carts carrying goods start plying on this road - Suds/Soods rejoice
• First word of mutiny arrives via telegraph and horse runners. 800 British subjects about 60% women in panic.
• Gorkha platoons at Jutog & Sabathu also rebel and then relent
• Brisk house building activity continues

1858/1859/1860/1861 AD

• British & units loyal to them put down the mutiny with an iron hand
• In 1958, East India Company folds its India operation. The British crown takes over. Lord Canning becomes the first Viceroy
• The now completed Kalka- Shimla road is brought under public works department and upgraded
• About 300 British houses of various designs have been built
• Shimla Municipal Committee made plans to relocate from Rani Jhansi Park area to Ridge, unfortunately, it is occupied by the Upper bazaar

1862/1863/1864 AD

• Shimla declared the summer capital ending a lot of speculation
• Shimla population expands to 10,000. Water shortage develops
• Suds/Soods rejoice more as now they would have a stable population base to supply goods and service
• Beer making comes to Shimla