Uttarakhand | |
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Uttarakhand photos : Sunrise at Kalindi in theHimalayas Bengal Tiger atJim Corbett National Park Ganges atHar Ki Pauri,Haridwar | |
Nickname: Devbhoomi |
Uttarakhand is a Himalayan state inNorth India, nestled between theTibetan Plateau and theIndo-Gangetic Plains. The name, which means "northern land" or "section" or "northern part" inSanskrit was made popular in the 80s as part of the wider statehood struggle within the region.
Present day Uttarakhand comprises the historical administrativeGarhwal andKumaon divisions.
Initially, it was believed that due to harsh climate and mountainous terrain, this was a barren and uninhabited land. But after various excavations and the study of ancient literature, it is now established that the history of Uttarakhand goes back to Stone Age. Evidences of Stone Age settlements have been found in various parts of Kumaon and Garhwal, particularly notable are the rock shelters atLakhudyar,Almora.
In thePuranas, Uttarakhand was the ancient term for the central IndianHimalayas. The region is mentioned in earlyHindu texts as the combined region ofKedarkhand andManaskhand. Its peaks and valleys were referred to as theSvarga loka: a temporary abode of the righteous, and the source of theGanges.
Uttarakhand is popularly referred to as "the land of the gods" (Devbhumi) owing to its huge number ofHindu pilgrimage sites.
ThePauravas,Kushanas,Kunindas,Guptas,Katyuris,Palas,Chands,Parmars (orPanwars), and theBritish have ruled the state by turns.[1]
The region was initially habitated byKolarian people, some scholars believed that these people were outcast by their tribes. Later,Indo - Aryans tribe began to arrive from Central Asia. The prominent among them were theKhasas, Khasas later fought with the aboriginals and finally defeated them. Khasa men married the local women in large numbers, this intermixing continued over centuries and is now verified by ancestry tests.[2]
The region formed a part of the Uttarakuru Kingdom during the Vedic age of Ancient India. It is believed that the rishi (sage)Vyasa wrote theMahabharata somewhere in present-day Uttarakhand, since thePandavas are believed to have travelled (and camped) in the region.
Among the first major dynasties of the Garhwal and Kumaon Kingdoms were the Kunindas in the 2nd century BC, who practised an early form of Shaivism and traded salt with western Tibet. Ashokan edicts at Kalsi show the early presence of Buddhism in this regionGarhwal Kito have settled in the northern highlands and elsewhere in the region, are believed to be the ancestors of the present-dayBhotiya,Raji, Buksha, andTharu peoples.[3]
Present-day Garhwal was unified under the Soomra dynasty, who with the Brahmins and Rajputs, arrived from the plains.[4] After the fall of the Katyuri dynasty, the Chand dynasty was established by Som Chand. The Kumaon kingdom was originally limited to an area around its capital, Champawat, later including parts of Nepal and Nainital, Pithoragarh and Almora. Atm Chand succeeded his father, and Indra Chand began silk production. Gyan Chand (1365–1420) defeated the Delhi Sultanate at Terai. Bharati Chand (1437–1477) attacked the Nepalese king and ruled east of the Karnali.
Kumaon prospered under the Chand kings from the eighth to the 18th centuries. The Pahari School of Miniature Painting was also flourished in the region between the 18th to the 19th centuries.[3]
Nepal's expanding Gurkha Empire overranAlmora, the seat of the Kumaon Kingdom, in 1791and in 1804 the Garhwal Kingdom also fell to the Gurkhas. With the end of theAnglo-Nepalese War in 1816, the western Garhwal Kingdom wasre-established inTehri; eastern Garhwal and Kumaon were ceded to the British in accordance with theTreaty of Sugauli.Jaunsar-Bawar was part of the Sirmur kingdom, primarily as a buffer betweenSirmur and Garhwal.Fateh Shah seized the region andDehradun from the Sirmur kings, theJaunsari and the localpahari; Sirmaur-era words are still found in theJaunsari language. In 1829, Jaunsar-Bawar was incorporated into theChakrata tehsil; it had been part of the Punjab state of Sirmur until the British conquered it and Dehradun after the 1814 war with theGurkhas.[4] The region was known as Jaunsar-Bawar before the establishment of aBritish Indian Army cantonment in 1866, and the name continued in popular use until the early 20th century.[5] Although Western Hindi is popular in most of the neighbouring hill areas, Jaunsari (aWestern Pahari language) is spoken by most people in the region.[6]
After Indian independence, the Tehri princely state was merged intoUttar Pradesh (where Uttarakhand consisted of theGarhwal andKumaon divisions).[7] Until 1998, Uttarakhand was the name most commonly used to refer to the region as political groups (including theUttarakhand Kranti Dal, founded in 1979) began advocating statehood under its banner. Although the former hill kingdoms of Garhwal and Kumaon were traditional rivals with diverse linguistic and cultural influences; due to the proximity of different, neighbouring ethnic groups, their shared geography, economy, and traditions created strong bonds between the regions.[8] These bonds were Uttarakhand's new political identity, which gained significant momentum when the demand for statehood in 1994 received near-unanimous acceptance among the local population and national political parties.[9] The 1/2 October 1994Rampur Tiraha firing case caused an uproar which eventually led to the creation of Uttarakhand from Uttar Pradesh in 2000.[10]
The termUttaranchal came into use when theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central and Uttar Pradesh state governments began a state reorganisation in 1998 and introduced their preferred name. The BJP name triggered controversy among separate-state activists, who saw it as a political act.[11] In August 2006, India's Union Cabinet agreed to the four-year-old demand of the Uttaranchal state assembly and Uttarakhand-movement leaders to rename Uttaranchal Uttarakhand. Legislation to that effect was passed by the State Legislative Assembly in October 2006,[12] passed in the winter session of Parliament, and signed into law by the president in December of that year.