Complete History of Uttarakhand
Dev Bhoomi Uttarakhand is a beautiful hill state situated on the foothills of the Himalayas. Along with tourism, this state is also known throughout the world for its culture, traditions, and mutual harmony. There are 13 districts in the state of Uttarakhand whose summer capital is Gairsain and winter capital is Dehradun.
Rudraprayag and Chamoli of Garhwal division and Almora and Bageshwar districts of Kumaon division were included in this division. But as soon as the command of the state came into the hands of Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat, he stopped the notification of the former Chief Minister's announcement even before it went before the Governor. After this order, there are still only two divisions in Garhwal.
History of Uttarakhand
prehistoric times
The prehistoric period is also called the period of pictorial styles because most of the information was received through pictorial styles. In Rigveda, Uttarakhand is referred to as Devbhoomi or the sacred land of sages, Uttarkuru in Atreya Parishad (AtreyaBrahmin), and Manas Khand and Kedarkhand in Skanda Purana. It is described in two parts in which the word Manas Khand has been used for Kumaon and the word Kedarkhand has been used for the Garhwal region.
Uttarakhand was also known by other names during this period as Brahmapur Uttarakhand and Himavant in Buddhist texts written in Pali language. During this period, the Garhwal region was called Badri Ka Ashram, and Swarg Ashram and Kumaon region were addressed as Kurmanchal. Two famous schools were also located in Uttarakhand, Badri Ashram and Kanvashram.
Kanvashram was on the banks of river Malini and this place is famous for the love story of King Dushyant and Shakuntala and Shakuntala's son Bharat was born in this ashram. The story of the lion's teeth falling is popular about him and the name of Shakuntala's son Bharat is But our country got its name Bharat and along with this, the great poet Kalidas also composed Abhigyan Shakuntalam in this ashram.
At present, this place is known as Pauri (Chaukaghat). Evidence of how ancient the state of Uttarakhand is is still present here like Lakhu Cave, Lovethap, Pet Shala located in Almora and Gorkha Cave, Malari Cave and Kimini village located in Chamoli. , Hudli in Uttarkashi, Bankot, Ramganga Valley in Pithoragarh.
Historical period of Uttarakhand
Kunind dynasty / Shaka dynasty / Naga dynasty
Many political powers emerged during the historical period. The first political power of Uttarakhand was the Kuninda dynasty and the most glorious king of this dynasty was Amoghabhuti. This dynasty made gold, silver and copper coins on which Raj Kunindas Amoghabhuti was written. Pictures of deer and goddess were made on silver coins.
After that came the Shaka dynasty who built many Sun temples. Of which the Sun Temple of Katarmal is the most famous which is situated in Almora and runs Shaka Samvat which is a type of calendar. After this came Nagavansh and Maukharivansh who ruled for a very short period. Then came the Vardhan dynasty whose king was Harshvardhan. During the reign of Harshavardhana, Banabhatta wrote his book Harsha Charita.
Chinese traveler Hiuen Tsang also came to India at this time. He called Uttarakhand (po-li-hi-mo-pu-lo) in his book Si-yu-ki. Also Haridwar was called Mo-yo-li. King Harshvardhan died in 648 AD and his kingdom was divided into many pieces. Then after this the Kartikeyapur dynasty emerged.
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Karthikeyapur Dynasty
Kartikeyapur dynasty is considered to be the first historical dynasty of Kumaon, and the first king of this dynasty was Raja Basant Dev. Who had the title of Parambhadvarak Maharajadhiraj Parmeshwar. Their branches were like Rajwar dynasty which was in Askota. Malal dynasty was in Doti, and Asantidev dynasty was in Katyur. In which Katyuri dynasty was the most prevalent.
This dynasty kept Kartikeyapur as its capital for about 300 years. Which is present-day Joshimath located in Chamoli. At the same time, a new dynasty, the Panwar dynasty, was emerging. And keeping in mind the insecurity, the Kartikeyapur dynasty changed its capital from Kartikeyapur and established it in Katyuri valley, the valley between Baijnath (Bageshwar) and Kartikeyapur in Kumaon.
During the reign of this dynasty, Adi Guru Shankaracharya came to Uttarakhand and extensively renovated the Badrinath and Kedarnath temples. Due to this the influence of Buddhism was reduced here. It is also believed that Badrinath used to be the first Buddhist monastery which was built by Emperor Ashoka. Adi Guru Shankaracharya died in Kedarnath in 820 AD.
After this, in 1515, Ajay Pal, the 37th ruler of the Panwar dynasty, came, who conquered 52 forts of Garhwal and created Garhwal, whose capital was earlier Devalgarh and was changed to Srinagar in 1517. After this, Balbhadra, the ruler of the same dynasty, was succeeded by 'Bahlol Lodi'. Gave the title of Shah and after this the rulers of Panwar dynasty started adding Shah in front of their names.
Meanwhile, King Ashok Chalal of Western Nepal attacked the Katyuri dynasty and captured some parts. And the last ruler of Katyuri dynasty was Brahmadev who was also known as Veeramdev and Veer Dev. When Taimur Lang invaded India in 1896, the last ruler of the Katyuri dynasty was martyred in Haridwar and the Katyuri dynasty came to an end here.
Chand Dynasty of Kumaon
After this came Chand dynasty, the first king of Chand dynasty was Somchand and his capital was in Champawat. The royal symbol of Chand dynasty was cow. In this dynasty, a king Bhishma Chand came, he thought of changing the capital from Champawat to Almora and for this purpose he also got the Khagmara fort built, but when this fort was completed, King Bhishma Chand died.
After this, King Balon Kalyan Chand of the same dynasty changed the Champawat capital to Almora and built Lal Mandi Fort and Malla Mahal Fort there. It is known from the Mughal period literature Tuzuk Jahangir and Shahnama that Chand kings also had relations with the Mughal kings. In 1790, the Gorkhas captured the Kumaon region by defeating Mahendra Chandra, the last king of the Chandra dynasty.
Panwar dynasty of Garhwal
After this comes the ninth century in which Garhwal was divided into 52 Garhs, the most powerful king in which was Bhanu Pratap. During this time, Kanak Pal, a ruler of Gujarat, came here, who thought of saving himself by marrying Bhanu Pratap's daughter, after which Kanak Pal established Pawar and Parmar dynasty and made Chandpur, which is currently Gairsain, his capital.
After this, after the death of King Mahapati Shah in 1936, his young son Prithvipati Shah was made the king. Due to his young age, he was kept with a guardian, Queen Karnavati.
In 1636 itself, the Mughal Emperor's commander Nawasat Khan attacked the Doon Valley. Still, Rani Karnavati took charge of this attack and also captured many Mughal soldiers whose noses were cut off on the orders of Rani Karnavati, due to which Rani Karnavati Karnavati was also called the cut nose queen.
Gorkhas rule over Uttarakhand
• In 1790, Gorkhas attacked Garhwal and were defeated. In 1803, when Garhwal was suffering from a severe earthquake, Gorkhas once again attacked Garhwal and this time they won some parts. On 14 May 1804, King Pradyuman Shah Fought a war against the Gorkhas in Khurbuda Maidan of Dehradun in which he died, after which most of Uttarakhand came under the control of Gorkhas.
Also read – Gorkha rule in Uttarakhand
Tehri State
After Pradyuman Shah came his son Sudarshan Shah who sought help from the British Governor Lord Hastings and with his help, in October 1814, the British army liberated Garhwal once again after about 2-4 months of war, but 7 lakhs were captured. Due to non-compensation of war expenses, the British Government took over the entire part.
Read this also - List of English Commissioner in Kumaon
The capital was forced to be changed from Srinagar to Tehri and the estate of Parmar dynasty came to be known as Tehri State. In the next year in 1815, the British conquered Kumaon from the Gorkhas and then on 28 November 1815, a treaty was signed between the British Government and the Gorkhas in Champaran, Bihar. The Treaty of 'Sangauli' took place, as a result of which everything except the princely state of Tehri came under the control of the British Government.
Origin of the words Kumaon and Garhwal
Kumaon
It is said that when Lord Vishnu in his Kurma avatar did penance for 3 years on the Kurma mountain on the banks of Champavati river situated near Champawat, then it was named Kurmanchal which later came to be known as Kumaon. Kurma avatar is the tortoise form of Lord Vishnu. Even today, the footprints of Lord Vishnu are imprinted on Kurma Parvat or Kamdev Parvat. Earlier this name was used only for Champawat and its surrounding areas.
But ever since the Chand dynasty came to rule, their entire empire was called Kurmanchal and their empire at that time extended up to Almora, Pithoragarh, Nainital, and the Mughal rulers of that time also called it Kumaon. This is also mentioned in Ain-e-Akbari. Get.
According to the Puranas, this place was named Kurmanchal because Lord Vishnu performed penance here in his Kurma avatar, but from the inscriptions and copper plates it is known that this area was named Kurmanchal or Kumaon later because in the detailed text of Emperor Samudra Gupta, this province was mentioned as Has been called Kartikeyapur.
The names Kartikeyapur and Brahmapur are also mentioned in the fifth and sixth-century copper plates available in Taleshwar. When the Chinese traveler Hiuen Tsang came to this area, he also addressed this area by the name Brahmapur.
Also Read -
Garhwal
Garhwal region was earlier called the country of 52 forts and at that time it was ruled by 52 kings who were independent kings of different states. The forts were small. When the Chinese traveler Hiuen Tsang came to India in the sixth century, he also wrote in his book that the kings here used to fight among themselves.
Taking advantage of their mutual fight, the famous king Ajay Pal of Parmar dynasty conquered all these 52 forts and took them under his control and became the sole lord of all the forts and Ajay Pal was called Garhwala and his area itself was called Garhwal.
52 forts of Garhwal:
1. Nagpur Garh, Place – Nagpur and Related Caste – Nag Caste.
2. Kolligarh, place Bachansyu and related caste Bachwan Bisht.
3. Rawadgarh, near Badrinath and Rawadi.
4. Falyan Garh, Falda Kot, Brahmins of Falyan caste.
5. Bangar Garh, Bangar, Rana caste.
6. Kuili Garh, Kuili, Sajwan caste.
7. Bharpur Garh, Bharpoor, Sajwan caste.
8. Kujani Garh, Kujani, Sajwan Jaati.
9.Silgarh, Silgarh, Sajwan caste.
10.Mungra Garh, Ravoi, Rawat caste.
11. Raika Garh, Raika Ramola caste.
12.Maulaya Garh, Ramoli, Ramola caste.
13. Uppu Garh, Udaipur, Chauhan caste.
14.Nala Garh, Dehradun, -.
15.Sankari Garh-Ravoi-Rana caste.
16.Ramigarh, Shimla, Rana caste.
17. Biralta, Jaunpur, Rawat caste.
18. Chandpur Garh, Chandpur, Suryavanshi (Raja Bhanu Pratap Singh).
19. Chaundagarh, Chandpur, Chaundal.
20.Topgarh, Chandpur, Topal caste.
21.Ranigarh, Ranigarh Patti, Topal Jati.
22. Shri Guru Garh, Salan Parihar Jati.
23. Badhan Garh, Badhan, Badhani caste.
24.Lohabagh Garh, Lohabagh, Negi caste.
25.Dasholi Garh, Dasholi, -.
26. Kundaragarh, Nagpur, Kundari caste.
27. Dhaunagarh, - Dhaunayal caste.
28.Ratan Garh, Kujani, Dhamada caste.
29. Erasu Garh, near Srinagar, -.
30. Idia Garh, Rawai Barkot, Idia Caste.
31. Langur Garh, Langur Patti, -.
32.Bagh Garh, Ganga Salana, Baguri caste.
33.Garhkot Garh, Malla Dhangu, Bagdwal.
34. Garhtag Garh, Taknaur, Bhotiya caste.
35.Bangarh Garh, Bangarh, -.
36.Bhardar Garh, Bhardar, -.
37. Chaund Kotgarh, Chaundkot, Chaundkot caste.
38.Nayal Garh, Katulsanyu, Naya Jati.
39.Ajmir Garh, Ajmer Patti, Payal Jati.
40. Kanda Garh, - Rawat caste.
41. Savligarh, Savli Khatli, -.
42.Badalpur Garh, Badalpur, -.
43.Sangela Garh, -,Sangela caste.
44. Gujdu Garh, Gujdu, -.
45. Jout Garh, Devpuri, -.
46. Devalgarh - Devalgarh
47Dewalgarh- Devalgarh
48.Jaulpur - Devalgarh
49. Champagarh Devalgarh
50.Dadraquar Fort
51.Bhavna Garh
52.Lodan Garh
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