MANDI  , a native

state of India, within the Punjab . It ranks as the most important of the hill states to which British influence extended in 1846 after the first Sikh War . The territory lies among the lower ranges of the Himalaya, between Kangra and Kulu . The country is mountainous, being intersected by two great parallel ranges, reaching to an average height of 5000 to 7000 ft. above sea-level . The valleys between the hill ranges are fertile, and produce all the ordinary grains, besides more valuable crops of rice, maize, sugar-cane, poppy and tobacco . Iron is found in places, and also gold in small quantities . Area, 1200 sq. m.; pop . (1901), 174,045; estimated revenue, £28,000; tribute, £6666 . The chief, whose title is raja, is a Rajput of old family . Considerable sums have been expended on roads and bridges . An important product of the state is salt, which is mined in two places . The town of Mandi is on the Beas, which is here a mountain torrent, crossed by a fine iron bridge; 2991 ft. above sea-level; 88 m. from Simla .

Pop . (1901), 8144 . It was founded in 1527, and contains a

palace of the 17th century and other buildings of interest . It is a mart for transfrontier trade with Tibet and Yarkand . See Mandi State Gazetteer (Lahore, 1908) .