Manali

Manali

Manali, (alt. 1,950 m or 6,398 ft) on the Beas River valley, is an important hill station in the Himalayan mountains of Himachal Pradesh, India, near the northern end of the Kullu Valley. It is administratively a part of the Kullu District. The population is approx. 30,000. There are actually two parts of Manali. Aleo New-Manali town is on the banks of the Beas river and the Old Manali village lies east of the Manalsu nullah, which in its present form, is more of a hippy enclave.

The small town was the beginning of an ancient trade route to Ladakh and, from there, over the Karakoram Pass on to Yarkand and Khotan in the Tarim Basin.

History
The towns of Kullu and Manali are dotted on the scenic Beas river valley. In a stretch of 100 km, Beas is joined by scores of tributatiries or "nallahs" which are known to cause flooding during the monsoon season. It is precisely because of its everflowing snow fed waters, Manali is so fertile.

This has meant that over a period of time there has been a constant flow of inhabitants into the valley. However the culture and diaspora has remained symbolic to the region.

The earliest history can be tracked down in the folk-lore of Mahabharatha, but more importantly in the local folk-lore which is not very well documented.

The valley was sparesely populated in ancient times and its inhabitants were known as literally "rakshas", the non agricultural hunting and wandering communities. The next arrivals were the shephards which came in through the Kangra valley and settled to take up agriculture. Some of the earliest and the most indigenous inhabitants of the regios are the 'naur' or 'nar' which is a caste unique to Kullu. Only a few naur families are known to exist now. A naur family in the village Soyal near Haripur on the left bank of Manali was famous for the vast land they owned and their practice of having 'rakshas' as their labourers.