History of Garhwal

Garhwal this word consists of word garh which means forts. was made of many small forts which were ruled by chieftains. So the history of garwhal before the dynastic rule of thePanwar 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. âPanwar is made of two words,˜panâand â˜marwhich 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 10th and 18 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 named after its capital. including today’s and (partly) district came to be called British Garhwal until ‘s independence in 1947. Tehri, at he meeting point of the rivers Bhagirathi and Bhilangna, became the new Capital of Tehri Garhwal.