Himachal Pradesh (Him)

Hin: हिमाचल प्रदेश himāc(h)al pradēś(h)

‘Land of Snowy Mountains’ 

From Skt: hima, ‘snow’, ‘frost’; Skt:  ac(h)ala, ‘immoveable’, ‘mountain’; and Skt: pradēśḥ, ‘province’, ‘region’, ‘territory’.

Himachal Pradesh lies in the lap of the Himalayas [Skt: hima ‘snow’; and Skt: ālaya ‘abode’] and this is reflected in the name chosen for it by Aacharya Diwakar Datt Sharma, a Sanskrit scholar.

Himachal Pradesh was first a Union Territory (1956) and then a fully-fledged state (1971). It was created from the merger of hill stations (including the summer capital of the Raj, Shimla) and princely states which were formerly part of Punjab. It has nearly forty snow-capped peaks of over 6,000m (19,685ft).

Map of Himachal Pradesh