History of Pauri Garhwal

Garhwal” this word consists of word “garh” which means forts. Garhwal was made of many small forts which were ruled by chieftains. So the history of garwhal before the dynastic rule of the “Panwar” rulers was not known.It came into light during the rule of Kanak Pal. He came from what is now called the state of Maharastra. “Panwar” is made of two words, ‘pan’ and ‘mar’ which means he who crushes enemies. The origin of the state can be traced back to 2nd century BC when it was ruled by the Khasias and was popular as Khashdesh.Several evidences have been excavated recently which point toward the fact that this region was under the domain of Kunidas. It was a tribe who practiced early form of Shavism.There are also indications of Ashokan edict in the regions of Garhwal region. There was the rule of Chand dynasty between 10th and 18th centuries.With the decline of the Chand dynasty the region became under the Garhwali Kings till the Rohillas took charge of the land in 1744 AD.Katyuris of Garhwal- there is no evidence of any kind for quite a long time after that, and the next prominent rulers of the valley were the katyuris of Garwhal.The area was overtaken by Gorkhas in 1803.For about two decades till 1815 it was under the rule of “Gorkhas”.Gorkhas were very cruel people. They use to levy heavy taxes on people. They would often inflict severe punishments on the people.They were evacuated by the British people after they lost the battle in 1815. Garhwal also consists of district of Tehri Garhwal. It was formely a princely state of British India, named after its capital.Pauri garhwal, including today's Chamoli and Rudraprayag (partly) district came to be called British Garhwal until India's independence in 1947. Tehri, at he meeting point of the rivers Bhagirathi and Bhilangna, became the new Capital of Tehri Garhwal.

Pauri Garhwal is a district in Uttarakhand state of India. Its headquarters is at Pauri. Pauri Garhwal district is ringed by Haridwar, Dehradun, Tehri Garhwal, Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Almora and Nainital districts from three sides. The southern boundary of Pauri Garhwal district touches with the Bijnor district of Uttar Pradesh

Pauri Garhwal district was a part of the erstwhile Garhwal Kingdom ruled by the Pal (Shah) dynasty. The throne of the King was at Srinagar. In 1803 Gurkhas, after many unsuccessful attempts, finally succeeded in capturing Garhwal by defeating the army of King Pradyumna Shah. In 1816, the British defeated the Gurkhas in the Anglo-Nepalese War, and the Garhwal Kingdom was re-established from Tehri
After independence it was known as Garhwal district and further divided into Pauri Garhwal and Chamoli districts in 1960. In 1997 an additional area was carved out of the Pauri Garhwal and merged with parts of Chamoli and Tehri Garhwal districts to form a new district named Rudraprayag.