Rampur’s Lavi Fair: Storytelling of 300 Years of Himalayan Trade and Tradition

What is Disneyland for children today, was for my family in the 1980s the Lavi Fair in Rampur Bushahr in Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh. I remember walking through the fair as an eight-year-old and watching an old man smoking a chillum next to piles of black sheep’s fleece and piles of white woolen pattus (the traditional clothing of Kinnaur and Kullu women).

The mother and her friends carefully selected shawls for their daughters and future daughters-in-law. Years later, I received a beautiful black sheep’s wool and pashmina scarf for my wedding. Wool has pride of place at the fair. The name Lavi is associated with “Loe”, a cloth of woolen cloth and the practice of shearing sheep.

Rampur on the banks of the Sutlej River comes alive for a few weeks with a fair (this year from November 11 to 14, with business premises open for the entire month) and offers a sensory map of the Himalayas. Colorful textiles, yak wool, pashmina, dry fruits, agricultural produce, Kinnauri apples, indigenous handicrafts and precious stones fill the market. Among its most impressive monuments are the magnificent Chamurth horses, the hardy “ships of the cold desert.”

Kinnauri weaving for sale at the Lavi fair. | Photo credit: Nitika Kuthiala

At the Lavi fair at Rampur Bushahr, Shimla district. | Photo credit: Nitika Kuthiala

Jewelry on sale at the Lavi fair. | Photo credit: Nitika Kuthiala

A touch of royalty

Traders once traveled from Tibet, Nepal, Central Asia and Afghanistan. Tradition traces the fair’s origins to a 17th-century treaty between Raja Kehri Singh of Bushahru and Tibet, which established it as a meeting place for traders, pilgrims and storytellers along the Silk Road. Although the trans-Himalayan trade declined after the occupation of Tibet in 1959, the fair survived on the Buddhist circuit and was granted international status by the Government of Himachal Pradesh.

Pratibha Singh, a member of the Rampur Bushahr royal family, which founded the fair and continues to honor the tradition, recalls its legacy of pashmina and kinnaur shawls, some of which have been woven for years, along with trans-Himalayan textiles and local produce. With a GI label and bright geometric motifs, the Kinnauri scarf speaks its own color language: white for water, yellow for earth, red for fire, green for air and blue for sky.

On my last visit, a group of elderly women from South India told me that they discovered the fair through a fellow traveler whose husband was a biker in the 1990s. A friend from Orissa recalls how his ophthalmologist-father’s eye camps in Rampur in the 1990s led to a lifelong friendship and an annual habit of getting Kinnauri apples and dry fruits.

Kinnauri apples on sale at the Lavi fair. | Photo credit: Nitika Kuthiala

Merchants at Lavi Fair now accept UPI payments. | Photo credit: Nitika Kuthiala

From barter to digital payments

For Ami Chand Gautam, a Lavi trader since the 1980s, the fair tells the story of changing prices and livelihoods. He remembers when “chilgoza, a rare pine nut harvested in the Kinnaur headwaters, was sold at just ₹ 4-5 per kg, almost the price of rice then. Today it sells for ₹ 14,000-15,000 per kg,” he says.

“Who would have imagined it?” quips Gautam, for whom Lavi is more than just a marketplace where mountain riches (wool, pashmina, cattle and dry fruits) were once exchanged for products from the plains (salt, jaggery, grains, cloth, etc.). Merchants now accept online payments and use courier services.

Artisans demonstrating their craft at the Lavi Fair. | Photo credit: Nitika Kuthiala

Food produced for sale. | Photo credit: Nitika Kuthiala

Jams, jellies and preserves made from Himalayan fruits. | Photo credit: Nitika Kuthiala

Stop in for a quick bite. | Photo credit: Nitika Kuthiala

The food reflects the evolving palate of the fair. Last year I saw steamed siddu, kodra (millet) roti, moodie (mix millet), momo and desi mithai being sold alongside chow mein, golgappa, chaat and dosa.

According to Magistrate Harsh Amarendra Singh of Rampur, “Lavi generates about ₹2.5 million annually through land and stall installments against a total expenditure of nearly ₹2 million. About 70% of the expenditure is allocated to local artists and cultural programmes. The government’s efforts are aimed at strengthening the identity of India’s most distinctive fair and the art of fair art.”

Atma Ram Kedarta, a retired officer who saw the fair from his childhood in the 1950s and later headed its cultural committee, recalls how “cultural evenings became one of the biggest attractions of Lavi”. But he says, “The government should ensure that local artistes are paid a fair and decent fee. There is a significant difference between what is paid to Himachal artists and outside artists.”

I realized that Lavi’s heart is its women as I watched them run stalls, negotiate deals, manage businesses and lead cultural traditions. Self-help groups further strengthened the position of small business women.

Artisans displaying Kinnaur weaves at the Lavi fair. | Photo credit: Nitika Kuthiala

Lavi’s heart is his women. | Photo credit: Nitika Kuthiala

Before entering the Lavi Fair trail. | Photo credit: Nitika Kuthiala

How to achieve

By Air: Delhi → Chandigarh (55-60 minutes), then taxi/bus (5-6 hours)

Shimla Airport (limited flights)

By road: Delhi → Rampur (475-480 km via NH 5).

Overnight: Volvo bus (12-13 hours, or taxi)

By Train: Delhi → Chandigarh/Kalka (3.5-4.5 hours), then by road (6-7 hours)

Where to stay: Naunabh Heritage Hotel Rampur Bushahr, Virasat-E-Bushahr, Hotel Bushehar Regency Rampur

Keepers of tradition

The fair helped traders from the lower hills and northern plains settle in Rampur. “Nearly 75% of the entrepreneurs in Rampur are migrants who settled generations ago,” says Kedarta. Harbans Kumar came from Punjab in the 1950s and recognized its business potential. Today, his grandson Sarthak continues the family business. Calling himself “more Pahari than Punjabi”, he grew up “speaking the local language and dancing the folk Nati” and says, “Himachal is not just a place where my family does business, this is my home.”

“There’s always a fair for the kids,” quips Anupam Kashyap, deputy commissioner of Shimla. The administration has introduced an essay competition in schools with prizes of ₹10,000-25,000, encouraging children to “talk to local elders, their grandparents, traders, travelers and community members and learn about Lavi’s lived history”. “The next generation will be the custodian of Lavi’s great past, the flag bearer of its present and the custodian of its future,” concludes Kashyap.

The Noida-based writer is a chef and culinary researcher.