Dharamshala (, ; also spelled Dharamsala) is a town in the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n state of

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...

. It serves as the winter capital of the state and the administrative headquarters of the

Kangra district Kangra district is the most populous district of Himachal Pradesh, India. Dharamshala is the administrative headquarters of the district. History Kangra is known for having one of the oldest serving Royal Dynasty in the world, the Katoch of ...

since 1855. The town also hosts the

Tibetan Government-in-exile The Central Tibetan Administration (, , ) is the government-in-exile of Tibet, based in Dharamshala, India. It comprises a judiciary branch, a legislative branch, and an executive branch, and offers support and services to the Tibetan exile ...

. Dharamshala was a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

until 2015, when it was upgraded to a

municipal corporation Municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including (but not necessarily limited to) cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. The term can also be used to describe municipally o ...

. The town is located in the

Kangra Valley Kangra Valley is a river valley situated in the Western Himalayas.Dhauladhar Dhauladhar () () is a mountain range which is part of a Lower Himalayan Range, lesser Himalayan chain of mountains in northern India. It rises from the Siwalik Hills, Shivalik hills, to the north of Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, Kangra and Mandi, ...

range of the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

at an altitude of . References to Dharamshala and its surrounding areas are found in ancient Hindu scriptures such as

Rig Veda The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' (, , from wikt:ऋच्, ऋच्, "praise" and wikt:वेद, वेद, "knowledge") is an ancient Indian Miscellany, collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canoni ...

and

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...

. The region was under Mughal influence before it was captured by the

Sikh Empire The Sikh Empire was a regional power based in the Punjab, Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. It existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahore, to 1849, when it was defeated and conquered by the East India Company, Br ...

in 1785. The

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

captured the region for the British following the

First Anglo-Sikh War The First Anglo-Sikh War was fought between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company in 1845 and 1846 around the Firozpur district of Punjab. It resulted in the defeat and partial subjugation of the Sikh empire and cession of Jammu ...

of 1846, from when it became part of the British Indian province of the Punjab. Post Indian Independence in 1947, it remained as a small hill station. In 1960, the Central Tibetan Administration was moved to Dharamshala when the 14th

Dalai Lama The Dalai Lama (, ; ) is the head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The term is part of the full title "Holiness Knowing Everything Vajradhara Dalai Lama" (圣识一切瓦齐尔达喇达赖喇嘛) given by Altan Khan, the first Shu ...

Tenzin Gyatso The 14th Dalai Lama (born 6 July 1935; full spiritual name: Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, shortened as Tenzin Gyatso; ) is the incumbent Dalai Lama, the highest spiritual leader and head of Tibetan Buddhism. He served a ...

established the Tibetan administration-in-exile after he had to flee Tibet. In 2015 Dharamshala was included in the Smart Cities Mission and hence will soon have smart solutions implemented for infrastructure and clean environment. Dharamshala can be viewed as a twin settlement, Upper Dharamshala, located at an elevation of approximately 1,830 metres, is home to the official residence and headquarters of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. This area, which includes the well-known suburbs of McLeod Ganj and Forsyth Ganj, still reflects a distinctly colonial character, echoing its British-era legacy. In contrast, Lower Dharamshala, situated at around 1,380 metres, has evolved into a bustling commercial hub, serving as the town’s primary centre for trade and business. The economy of the region is highly dependent on

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

and

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

. The town is now a major hill station and spiritual center.

Etymology

''Dharamshala'' (

Devanagari Devanagari ( ; in script: , , ) is an Indic script used in the Indian subcontinent. It is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental Writing systems#Segmental systems: alphabets, writing system), based on the ancient ''Brāhmī script, Brā ...

: धर्मशाला;

ITRANS The "Indian languages TRANSliteration" (ITRANS) is an ASCII transliteration scheme for Indic scripts, particularly for the Devanagari script. The need for a simple encoding scheme that used only keys available on an ordinary keyboard was felt i ...

: Dharmashala;

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Brahmic family, Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that ...

: Dharmaśālā) is a

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

word derived from

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

that is a compound of the words ''

dharma Dharma (; , ) is a key concept in various Indian religions. The term ''dharma'' does not have a single, clear Untranslatability, translation and conveys a multifaceted idea. Etymologically, it comes from the Sanskrit ''dhr-'', meaning ''to hold ...

'' (धर्म) and ''shālā'' (शाला), literally 'House or place of Dharma'. In common usage, the word refers to a shelter or rest house for spiritual pilgrims. When permanent settlements were established in the region, there was one such rest house from which the settlement took its name. Due to a lack of uniform observance of conventions for Hindi transcription and transliteration of the script used to write it,

, the name of the town has been variously romanised in English and other languages as ''Dharamshala'', ''Dharamsala'', ''Dharmshala'' and ''Dharmsala''. These four permutations result from two variables: the transcription of the word धर्म (dharma)—particularly the second syllable (र्म) and that of the third syllable (शा). A strict transliteration of धर्म as written would be 'dharma' . In the modern spoken Hindi of the region, there is a common metathesis in which the vowel and consonant sounds in the second syllable of certain words (including धर्म) are transposed, which changes 'dharma' to 'dharam' pronounced somewhere between and . Regarding the third syllable, the Devanagari श corresponds to the English ''sh'' sound, and thus शाला is transcribed in English as 'shala'. Therefore, the most accurate phonetic transcription of the Hindi धर्मशाला into Roman script for common (non-technical) English usage is either 'Dharamshala' or, less commonly, 'Dharmshala', both of which render the ''sh'' () sound of ''श'' in English as 'sh' to convey the correct native pronunciation, 'Dharam''sh''ala' or 'Dharm''sh''ala' (). Regardless of spelling variations, the correct native pronunciation is with the ''sh'' sound ().Mapping table with 7 methods
of Harvard-Kyoto, ITRANS, Velthuis, SLP, WX-system and IAST, Devanagari used b

Maintained by the 'Indian Language Technology Proliferation and deployment centre' (ILTP-DC) of the government of India. Works with 7 systems: Harvard-Kyoto, ITRANS, Velthuis, SLP, WX-system, and IAST, Devanagari. Durvasa Rishi had come here from Maharashtra to cool his right side. Pointing to a slab of stone, she hri Matajisaid Durvasa Rishi had done tapasya on this shila (stone slab) and that is why the city was called Dharam shila ( धर्म शिला ), but the British pronounced it as Dharamshala!
From the book : "The Tenth Incarnation", by Yogi Mahajan, Paperback, in Volume I, Chapter 14, page 89 * Dharam shila ( धर्म शिला ) is a name meaning "Dharma Rock", "rock of righteousness" or "pillar of virtue," and suggests strength and a strong moral compass. The names meaning itself is powerful: a steadfast rock representing righteous conduct.

History

Early history

References to Dharamshala and its surrounding areas are found in ancient Hindu scriptures such as

and

. There are mentions of the region by

Pāṇini (; , ) was a Sanskrit grammarian, logician, philologist, and revered scholar in ancient India during the mid-1st millennium BCE, dated variously by most scholars between the 6th–5th and 4th century BCE. The historical facts of his life ar ...

in 4th century BC and by Chinese traveller Heun Tsang during the reign of king

Harshavardhana Harshavardhana (Sanskrit: हर्षवर्धन; 4 June 590 – 647) was an emperor of Kannauj from April 606 until his death in 647. He was the king of Thanesar who had defeated the Alchon Huns, and the younger brother of Rajya ...

in 7th century AD. The indigenous people of the Dharamshala area (and the surrounding region) are the Gaddis, a predominantly

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

group who traditionally lived a nomadic or semi-nomadic

transhumant Transhumance is a type of pastoralism or nomadism, a seasonal movement of livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions (''vertical transhumance''), it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and lower ...

lifestyle. The region was subject to attacks from Mughal rulers

Mahmud of Ghazni Abu al-Qasim Mahmud ibn Sabuktigin (; 2 November 971 – 30 April 1030), usually known as Mahmud of Ghazni or Mahmud Ghaznavi (), was Sultan of the Ghaznavid Empire, ruling from 998 to 1030. During his reign and in medieval sources, he is usuall ...

in 1009 and

Firuz Shah Tughlaq Firuz Shah Tughlaq (1309 – 20 September 1388), also known as Firuz III, was Sultan of Delhi from 1351 until his death in 1388. He succeeded his cousin Muhammad bin Tughlaq following the latter's death at Thatta, Sindh. His father was ...

in 1360. In 1566,

Akbar Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expa ...

captured the region and brought it under the Mughal rule. As the Mughal rule disintegrated,

Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...

chieftain Jai Singh brought the region to his control and gave it to Sansar Chand of the Katoch dynasty, legitimate

Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

prince in 1785. Gurkhas invaded and captured the region in 1806 before being defeated by

Ranjit Singh Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839) was the founder and first maharaja of the Sikh Empire, in the northwest Indian subcontinent, ruling from 1801 until his death in 1839. Born to Maha Singh, the leader of the Sukerchakia M ...

in 1809. The Katoch dynasty was reduced to the status of jagirdars under the treaty of Jawalamukhi signed between Chand and Singh in 1810. Post the death of Chand, Ranjit Singh annexed the region into the Sikh empire.

British occupation

The

captured the region following the

of 1846. Under the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

, the regions were part of the undivided British Indian province of the Punjab, and were ruled by the governors of Punjab from

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

. In 1860, the 66th

Gurkha The Gurkhas or Gorkhas (), with the endonym Gorkhali ( Nepali: गोर्खाली ), are soldiers native to the Indian subcontinent, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of North India. The Gurkha units consist of Nepali and ...

Light Infantry Light infantry refers to certain types of lightly equipped infantry throughout history. They have a more mobile or fluid function than other types of infantry, such as heavy infantry or line infantry. Historically, light infantry often fought ...

was moved from Kangra to Dharamshala, which was at first made a subsidiary

cantonment A cantonment (, , or ) is a type of military base. In South Asia, a ''cantonment'' refers to a permanent military station (a term from the British Raj). In United States military parlance, a cantonment is, essentially, "a permanent residential ...

. The Battalion was later renamed 1st Gurkha Rifles. Dharamshala became a popular

hill station A hill station is a touristic town located at a higher elevation than the nearby plain or valley. The English term was originally used mostly in Western imperialism in Asia, colonial Asia, but also in Africa (albeit rarely), for towns founded by ...

in the British Raj era. The 1905 Kangra earthquake devastated the Kangra Valley, destroying the cantonment, much of the infrastructure of the region, and killing nearly 20,000 people: 1,625 at Dharmasala, including 15 foreigners and 112 of the Gurkha garrison. Many of the Gurkhas were part of the

Indian National Army The Indian National Army (INA, sometimes Second INA; ''Azad Hind Fauj'' ; 'Free Indian Army') was a Empire of Japan, Japanese-allied and -supported armed force constituted in Southeast Asia during World War II and led by Indian Nationalism#An ...

founded by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose taking part in the

Indian Independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

Post independence

Post Indian Independence in 1947, it remained as a small hill station. On 29 April 1959, the 14th

established the Tibetan administration-in-exile in

Mussoorie Mussoorie () is a hill station and a municipal board, in Dehradun city in the Dehradun district of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is about from the state capital of Dehradun and north of the national capital of New Delhi. The hil ...

when he had to flee Tibet. In May 1960, the Central Tibetan Administration was moved to Dharamshala when

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

, then

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Union Council of Ministers, Council of Ministers, despite the president of ...

allowed him and his followers to settle in McLeod Ganj north of Dharamshala. There they established the "

government-in-exile A government-in-exile (GiE) is a political group that claims to be the legitimate government of a sovereign state or semi-sovereign state, but is unable to exercise legal power and instead resides in a foreign country. Governments in exile usu ...

" in 1960 and the Namgyal Monastery. In 1970, the Dalai Lama opened the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives which is one of the most important institutions for

Tibetology Tibetology () refers to the study of things related to Tibet, including its history, religion, language, culture, politics and the collection of Tibetan articles of historical, cultural and religious significance. The last may mean a collection of ...

. Several thousand Tibetan exiles have now settled in the area where monasteries, temples, and schools have come up. It has become an important tourist destination with many hotels and restaurants, leading to growth in tourism and commerce. In 2017, Dharamshala was made the winter capital of Himachal Pradesh with the legislative assembly located at Sidhbari.

Geography

Dharamshala has an average elevation of , covering an area of almost . Dharamsala is located in the

mountains. The town is divided into two distinct sections "Lower Dharamshala" and McLeod Ganj with a narrow road surrounded by

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

, Himalayan

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

, and

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the Ericaceae, heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan ...

connecting the regions.

Climate

Dharamshala has a

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

influenced,

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Cwa''). Summer begins in early April and peaks in May when temperatures can reach and lasts until the start of June. From June to mid-September is the monsoon season, when up to of rainfall can be experienced, making Dharamshala one of the wettest places in the state. Autumn is mild and lasts from October to the end of November. Autumn temperatures average around . Winter starts in December and continues until late February. Snow and sleet are common during the winter in upper Dharamshala (including McLeodganj, Bhagsu Nag, and Naddi). Lower Dharamshala receives little frozen precipitation except for hail. Historically, the Dhauladhar mountains used to remain snow-covered all year long; however, in recent years they have been losing their snow blanket during dry spells.

Demographics

As of the 2011 Census of India, Dharamshala had a population of 30,764. In 2015, the area under the administration of the municipal body was expanded with a revised population of 53,543 in 10,992 households. Males constituted 55% of the population and females 45%. Dharamshala has an average literacy rate of 87%, higher than the national average of 74.04%: male literacy is 90% and female literacy is 83%. 9% of the population is under 6 years of age with a

sex ratio A sex ratio is the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. However, many species deviate from an even sex ratio, ei ...

of 941.

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

is the most followed religion followed by

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

is the official language while other languages spoken include Gaddi, Kangri, Punjabi, English,

Lhasa Tibetan Lhasa Tibetan or Standard Tibetan is a standardized dialect of Tibetan spoken by the people of Lhasa, the capital of the Tibetan Autonomous Region. It is an official language of the Tibet Autonomous Region. In the traditional "three-branched" ...

, Nepali and Pahari.

Administration and politics

Dharamshala became a

in 2015; before that it had been a

. The corporation has 17 wards under its jurisdiction. The current

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

is Onkar Singh Nehria of the

Bhartiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Since 2014, ...

(BJP), elected in 2022. The town is part of the Dharamshala Assembly constituency that elects its member to the

Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly The Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The seat of the Assembly is at Shimla, the capital of the state. There are 68 Members of Legislative Assembly, al ...

and

Kangra Lok Sabha constituency Kangra Lok Sabha constituency is one of the four Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies in Himachal Pradesh state in northern India. Assembly segments Kangra Lok Sabha constituency presently comprised the following 17 Vidhan Sabha (legislati ...

that elects its member to the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

, lower house of the

Indian Parliament The Parliament of India (ISO: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Government of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the People). The President o ...

Economy

The economy of the region is highly dependent on

and

. The main crops grown in the valley are

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

, and

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...

. Dharamshala has many tea plantations which produce the Kangra tea which has been granted

geographical indication A geographical indication (GI) is a name or sign used on products which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin (e.g., a town or region). The use of a geographical indication, as an indication of the product's source, is inten ...

status. Dharamshala is a major hill station and spiritual center. It hosts a number of trekking trails across the

into the upper Ravi Valley and

Chamba district Chamba district is the northwestern district of Himachal Pradesh, in India, with its headquarters in Chamba town. The towns of Dalhousie, Khajjhiar and Churah Valley are popular hill stations and vacation spots for the people from the plains ...

. Trekking trails include

hikes A hike is a long, vigorous walking, walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer tim ...

to Indrahar Pass (4,342 meters or 14,245 ft) Toral Pass (), Bhimghasutri Pass (), Dharamshala—Bleni Pass (), Kareri Lake, Himani Chamunda, Thatarna and

Triund Triund is a small hill station in the Kangra district in the state of Himachal Pradesh, India. Triund is a part of Dharamkot. Triund is at the foot of the Dhauladhar ranges and is at a height of . See also * List of hill stations in India ...

Transport

Road

National Highway NH 503 starts from Dharmashala and connects the town to

Hoshiarpur Hoshiarpur () is a city and a Municipal corporations in India, municipal corporation in Hoshiarpur district in the Doaba region of the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab. It was founded, according to tradition, during the early part of the ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

via Kangra. State highways link the town with NH 154 running from

Pathankot Pathankot () is a city and the district headquarters of the Pathankot district in Punjab, India. Pathankot is the sixth most populous city of Punjab, after Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala and Bathinda. Its local government is a municipal ...

Mandi, Himachal Pradesh Mandi ( formerly known as Mandav Nagar) is a major town and a municipal corporation in Mandi District in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It is situated north of state capital, Shimla in the north-west Himalayas at an average altitude o ...

. Dharamshala is well connected by road, with luxury buses regularly operating from major cities like Delhi and Shimla. The Himachal Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) runs a daily luxury coach service between Delhi and Dharamshala. In addition, both public and private buses are available from the main Dharamshala Bus Stand, providing connectivity to various towns and cities across Himachal Pradesh and beyond.

Air

The town is served by Kangra Ghaggal Airport located about to the town's south.

Rail

, away, is the nearest major rail head. The Kangra Valley Railway is a gauge railway that runs from Pathankot, Punjab to Jogindernagar through the

Kangra Valley Kangra Valley is a river valley situated in the Western Himalayas.Central University of Himachal Pradesh and Government College of Teacher Education Dharamsala.

Sports and recreation

Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium is a

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

stadium located in Dharamshala. Situated at an altitude of 1317m, it is one of the highest altitude cricket stadiums. It has a capacity of 23,000 and serves as the home ground to the Himachal Pradesh cricket team and IPL team Kings XI Punjab. Traditional shopping streets are located in Kotwali Bazaar. Malls and multiplex cinemas are found on the National Highway Road in the Chilgari area, near Kotwali Bazaar and the main bus stand.

DIFF In computing, the utility diff is a data comparison tool that computes and displays the differences between the contents of files. Unlike edit distance notions used for other purposes, diff is line-oriented rather than character-oriented, but i ...

was established in 2012 to promote contemporary art, cinema and independent media practices in the Himalayan region. Hari Kothi is a historic property located in the town.

Notable people

* Mehr Chand Mahajan (1889–1967), former

Chief Justice of India The chief justice of India (CJI) is the chief judge of the Supreme Court of India and the highest-ranking officer of the Indian judiciary. The Constitution of India grants power to the President of India to appoint, as recommended by the outg ...

Chandrarekha Dhadwal Chandrarekha Dhadwal (born 15 April 1951, also known as Rekha Dhadwal) is a writer from Himachal Pradesh, India. She is noted for her short stories, poems, novels, and Ghazal, ghazals in Hindi and Pahari language, Pahari. Personal life Dhadwal ...

(born 1951), writer, poet, novelist and retired lecturer *

, 14th

James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and 12th Earl of Kincardine, (20 July 181120 November 1863) was a British colonial administrator and diplomat. He served as Governor of Jamaica (1842–1846), Governor General of the Province of Canada (1847– ...

* Alfred W. Hallett, artist * Kishan Kapoor, Member of Parliament * Sher Jung Thapa Indian Army * Chandresh Kumari Katoch, former minister of cultural & external affairs government of India. * Sudhir Sharma, politician.

References

External links

* {{Kangra district 1849 establishments in British India Cities and towns in Kangra district Hill stations in Himachal Pradesh Populated places established in 1849 Tibetan Buddhist places Tibetan diaspora in India Smart cities in India Tourism in Himachal Pradesh