Gadđi tribal wooden Juice Presses

Himachal Pradesh “Snow-laden Mountain Province” is a state in the northern part of India.

Situated in theWestern Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks and extensive river systems. Himachal Pradesh is the northernmost state of India and shares borders with the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh to the north, and the states of Punjab to the west, Haryana to the southwest, Uttarakhand to the southeast and a very narrow border with Uttar Pradesh to the south. The state also shares an international border to the east with the Tibet Autonomous
Region in China. Himachal Pradesh is also known as Dev Bhoomi, meaning ‘Land of Gods’ and Veer Bhoomi which means ‘Land of the Brave’.

The Himachal region is rich in woodwork craft dating back to the 7th century. In the hilly region of Chamba, which has extensive forests, wood is chiefly used for building, both in ordinary dwellings and in edifices of a more ornamental character, such as temples and shrines. In Bharmour, which is one of the five tehsils of the present Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh, we find the art of woodcarving extensively applied to secular and domestic architecture. Bharmour (ancient name Brahmpura), the tribal belt, also had the distinction of being the capital of the state of Brahmpura for over four centuries (seventh to the tenth century CE), until the capital was shifted to the present Chamba town.

The tribal area of Bharmour tehsil is presently inhabited mostly by the Gaddis, who are semi-nomadic tribal people and migrate to the lower plains from October to March because of the scarcity of work and the severity of winter.