Garhwal Division – Pauri Garhwal

Pauri Garhwal is a small part of the larger Garhwal region and is a district of the state of Uttarakhand that was formed in 2000 and was the 27th state. The headquarters of Pauri Garhwal is in the town of Pauri and is often called Garhwal district but does not represent the entire Garhwal region as it is just a tiny part of it, and the administration is somewhat different from the larger Garhwal region. The Pauri Garhwal district is partly located in the Himalayas and partly in the plains around the Ganges River. The Bijnor district borders it on the southwest side of Uttar Pradesh and Tehri Garhwal and Nainital on its western side. 

History of Pauri Garhwal

• The place of Pauri Garhwal was ruled by Katyuri Kings, who were medieval Rajput rulers of the Khasa origin, and the founder of the dynasty was King Vasu Dev. King Vasu Dev was said to have been a Buddhist in his earlier days. Still, it later took up the religion of Hinduism, which was believed to have been a result of Adi Shankar’s vigorous preaching of Hinduism around the beginning of the medieval age.
• The Katyuri Kings are said to have ruled the majority of the region we know today as Uttarakhand, after whose rulership, the Garhwal division was disintegrated into more than 64 principalities. The only records and evidence left were the inscriptions and temples made and built during the Katyuri era. 
• After the end of the Katyuri era, Cheiftans ruled the principalities and Jagatpal ruled the Chandpurgarh. 
• Later it was ruled by Ajaypal, who unified the principalities around the 15th century. He and his successors ruled the present-day division of Garhwal for almost three hundred years, during which they came under threat from the various rulers of the Mughal dynasty, Kumaon, and Sikhs. 
• The most well-known invasion of the region was the invasion of the Gorkhas, who invaded as far as Langoorgarh despite facing strong resistance from the Garhwal forces. The battle ended up in extreme brutality, remembered even today. Initially, the Gorkhas had to briefly halt their invasion as Chinese troops headed toward the region. This would be a massacre of both the Garhwal people and the Gorkhas. After capturing Doti and Kumaon, they attacked the Langooargarh, and then their rule lasted for twelve years until being driven away by the Britishers in 1815. 
• The parts that the Britishers ruled came to be known as British Garhwal and doon of Dehradun, which comprised mainly the eastern region of the district, which is in the Alaknanda and Mandakini rivers. King Sudershan Shah took the parts like Tehri that the Britishers did not rule, wherein he established his capital. 

Administration

• The Garhwal Division was divided into two districts – Chamoli and Pauri Garhwal.
• A part was carved out and merged with Chamoli and Tehri districts in 1997. 
• The present District Magistrate of Pauri Garhwal is Dr Vijay Kumar Jogdande, an IAS officer appointed in 2021. 
• The district of Pauri Garhwal has been divided into nine tehsils and 15 blocks that form the district’s administrative structure. 

The Climate of Pauri Garhwal

• Unlike the rest of the hill stations of Uttarakhand, Pauri Garhwal can be pretty hot in summer, especially in a place like Kotdwar, with the temperature reaching up to 40 degrees. Still, some parts of it receive snowfall during the freezing days in winter. So, the climate of Pauri Garhwal can be said to be a mixture of extremely hot and extremely cold in some parts of the district during the extreme days of both summer and winter. 
• The Garhwal Hills, also known as the Garhwal Himalayas, are a part of the Sivalik Hills, which are the outermost hills of the Himalayan-mountain range and share its geographical relief with Himachal Pradesh as well. 
• The Garhwal hills harbour the cities of Pauri, Tehri, Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, and Chamoli. The pilgrimage sites in the Garhwal hills comprise Badrinath, Kedarnath, Yamunotri, and Gangotri, receiving millions of tourists and pilgrims every year for their religious significance and the natural beauty serenity of the places. 

Demography

• The people residing in this district predominantly speak Garhwali, and the additional languages are Hindi, Nepali, and Kumaoni, which are in the minority. 
• The religion mainly followed in this district is Hinduism, followed by Islam, which makes up only 3 per cent of the population there. The rest of the minorities, like Christianity, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism followers, comprise below 1 per cent of the total population of Pauri Garhwal. 

Conclusion

The Pauri Garhwal is part of the newly formed state of Uttarakhand and is one of the thirteen districts of Uttarakhand. The headquarters lie in the Pauri town of the Pauri Garhwal district, which comprises several pilgrim sites and hills known as the Garhwal Hills, part of the Himalayas. It has a rich history that saw the rulership of several dynasties like the Katyuri dynasty and the Gorkha reign and administrations like that of the Britishers. The wilderness of Pauri Garhwal is what we see in national parks like the Jim Corbett National Park and the Kalagarh Tiger Reserve and the surrounding wildlife of the region.