Nahan
The Sirmur rajas held the country between the Yamuna and the Giri, with their capital from 1621 at Nahan. The state's lower elevation and its position on the edge of the plains made it more exposed than the interior hill states, and it was overrun by the Gorkhas in 1803 during their westward expansion.
The British expelled the Gorkhas in the war of 1814–16 and restored the raja. In 1815, at Nahan, the Sirmoor Battalion was raised from Gorkha prisoners and deserters — the first Gurkha unit in British service, and the origin of a recruitment relationship that continues in the Indian and British armies today. The regiment later held Hindu Rao's house on the Delhi ridge through the siege of 1857.
Sirmur acceded to India in 1948. The Renuka lake and its fair, and the Bhuri Singh traditions of the region, remain its best-known institutions.
Further reading
- Keay, John. India: A History. HarperCollins, 2000
- Wolpert, Stanley. A New History of India. Oxford University Press, 2009
- Brown, Judith M. Modern India: The Origins of an Asian Democracy. Oxford University Press, 1994
- Chandra, Bipan. India's Struggle for Independence. Penguin, 1989
- Dalrymple, William. The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company. Bloomsbury, 2019
See also
This entry was last revised on 1 August 2026.