91-9760010102
Chamoli Garhwal
|
Chamoli, the abode of Gods, reputed for its shrines and temples, birth place of 'Chipko Movement ' with its strategic significance is one of the hill district of Uttarakhand, India. Chamoli proved itself " the most spectacular in its natural assets ; be it maintain scenery , valley aspects, water-edges, floristic varieties, dramatic landform or the climatic cardinalities " |
The region covered by the district of
Chamoli forms part of the district of Pauri Garhwal of the Kumaon till
1960. It occupies the north-eastern corner of the Garhwal tract and lies
in the central or mid-Himalayas in the very heart of the snowy range
described in ancient books as Bahirgiri, one of the three divisions of
the Himalayan mountains.
Historical Back Ground
Chamoli , the district of “Garhwal’’ the land of
forts. Today’s Garhwal was known as kedar-khand in the past. In puranas
kedar-khand was said to be abode of God. It seems from the facts Vedas
puranas, Ramayana and Mahabharata that these Hindu scriptures are scripted
in kedar-khand . It is believed that God Ganesha first script of Vedas
in Vayas gufa situated in the last village Mana only four km. from
Badrinath.
According to Rigveda(1017-19) after Inundation (Jalprlya) Sapt-Rishis
saved their lives in the same village Mana. Besides there the roots of
vedic literature seems to be originated from Garhwal because the
Garhwali language has a lot of words common with sanskrit .The work
place of vedic Rishis are the prominent pilgrim places in Garhwal
specially in Chamoli like Atrimuni Ashram in Anusuya about 25 km. from
Chamoli town and work place of Kashyap Rishi at Gandhmadan parwat near
Badrinath. According to Aadi-Puran vedvyasa scripted the story of
Mahabharata in Vyas Gufa near Badrinath. Pandukeshwar a small village
situated on the Rishikesh Badrinath high-way from where Badrinath is
just 25 km away is regarded as Tapsthali of king Pandu. In Kedar-khand
Puran this land is regarded the land of lord Shiva.
The authentic script about the history of Garhwal is found only 6th AD
on word. Some of the oldest example of there are the trishul in
Gopeshwar, lalitsur in Pandukeshwar .The Narvaman rock script in siroli
the chand pur Gari rock script by king Kankpal authenticates the
history and culture of Garhwal.
Some Historian and scientist believe that this land is origin of Arya
race. It is believed that about 300B.C. Khasa invaded Garhwal through
Kashmir Nepal and Kumaon. A conflict grew due to this invasion a conflict
took place between these outsiders and natives .The natives for their
protection builded small forts called “Garhi’’. Later on Khasa defeated
the native totally and captured the forts.
After Khasa, Kshatiya invaded this land and defeated Khasa accomplished
their regime. They confined Garhwal of hundreds of Garhi in to fifty-two
Garhi only. One kantura vashudev general of kshatriya established his
regime on the northern border of Garhwal and founded his capital in
joshimath then Kartikeypur vashudev katyuri was the founder of katyura
dynasty in Garhwal and they reign Garhwal over hundreds of years in this
period of katyuri regime Aadi-Guru Sankaracharya visited Garhwal and
established Jyotrimath which is one of the four famous Peeths
established by Aadi-Guru Sankaracharya. In Bharat varsh other these are
Dwarika , Puri and Sringeri. He also reinstated idol of lord Badrinath
in Badrinath, before this the idol of Badrinath was hidden in Narad-Kund
by the fear of Buddha. After this ethicist of vedic cult started to
pilgrim Badrinath.
According to Pt.Harikrishna Raturi king Bhanu pratap was the first ruler
of Panwar dynasty in Garhwal who founded chanpur-Garhi as his capital.
This was is strongest Garh for the fifty- two garhs of Garhwal.
The devastating earthquake of 8th September 1803 weakened the economic
and administrative set up of Garhwal state. Taking advantage of the
situation Gorkhas attacked Garhwal under the command of Amar Singh Thapa
and Hastidal Chanturia. They established there reign over half of the
Garhwal in 1804 up to 1815 this region remain under Gorkha rule.
Mean while the king of Panwar dynasty Raja Sudarshan Shah contacted east
India Company and soughted help. With the help of British he defected
Gorkhas and merged the eastern part of Alaknanda and Mandakani along with
the capital srinagar in British Garhwal from that time this region was
known as British Garhwal and the capital of Garhwal was set up at Tehri
instead of Srinagar. In the beginning British ruler kept this area under
Dehradun and Saharanpur. But later on the British established a new
district in this area and named it Pauri. Today’s Chamoli was a tehsil
of the same .On 24th February 1960 tehsil Chamoli was upgraded to a new
district. In October 1997 two complete tehsil and two other blocks
(partially) of district Chamoli were merged into a new formed district
Rudraprayag.
Religious Importance
It is in Chamoli that Hanuman is believed to have found the 'Sanjeevani'
herb which revived the wounded and conscious Lakshman; it is here that
the sage Ved Vyasa is believed to have composed his immortal epic The
Mahabharata; and it is here that Guru Gobind Singh is believed to have
meditated in one of his earlier births. It is to these hills that
Pandavas are believed to have come to ask Lord Shiva's blessings and
forgiveness for the sin of having killed their own kin. Here Karna, the
son of Draupadi and Lord Surya, performed austerities to be bestowed the
Kavacha and kundala that made him invincible; Varuchi compiled his
Panini Grammer and Adi Sankaracharya attained enlightenment. Five out
of six schools of Hindu philosophy have their beginnings in these hills
that have been home to the highest flights of man's spirit in the past
and the present