“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 2^nd 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 10^th and 18^th 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.