Dehradun is the capital of The Indian state of Uttarakhand, and has a rich and eventful history, it also finds mention in scriptures as well.
During the British Raj, the town was known as Dera Dun. [1]
In Skanda Purana, Dun is mentioned as a part of the region called Kedarkhand, the abode of Shiva. In ancient India during the Mahabharata epic era, Dronacharya the great teacher of Kauravas and Pandavas lived here hence the name, "Dronanagari". [2]
A rock edict of Ashoka, the legendary Mauryan King, who ruled between 273 BCE to 232 BCE, was discovered at Kalsi, 44 km from Dehradun by John Forest, in 1860. The edict was known as Chhatra Shila by the local residents until it was protected by the Archaeological Survey of India following its discovery. [3] Situated on the banks of the Yamuna, Kalsi was earlier known as Kalkut and was a part of the flourishing Kulind janapada. It was the northernmost limit of the surveys done by the founder of ASI Alexander Cunningham who surveyed areas stretching from Kalsi in the north to Narmada in the south. [4]
Dehradun had been a part of the Garhwal Kingdom except for the brief interlude of the Rohillas. The city is believed to have been named after the camp, or dera, established by Baba Ram Rai, elder son of the seventh Sikh Guru, Guru Har Rai, who came here in 1675. He settled in the village Dhamawala, which even today hosts the annual Jhanda Mela on the fifth day after Holi in his memory. [5] Thus the name refers to his 'dera' or camp in the 'Doon' valley, around which the present town gradually developed, [6] and marking this settlement is a gurudwara called Guru Ram Rai Darbar Sahib, built between 1699 and 1707 with the help of Raja of Garhwal, Fateh Shah, who was succeeded by his grandson in the same year, Pratap Shah, [1] and modelled on the tomb of Mughal Emperor Jehangir. [7]
Historically, Dehradun was a part of the Garhwal Kingdom also known as 'Kedarkhand', which was founded by Ajai Pal around 1400, by capturing all the minor principalities of the Garhwal region, under his own sway, and thereafter, he and his descendants ruled over Garhwal and the adjacent state of Tehri-Garhwal, in an uninterrupted line till 1803, when the Gurkhas invaded Kumaon and Garhwal. [8] In 1757, Najib-ul-Daula, the governor of Saharanpur, who later founded city of Najibabad, invaded the city with his army of Rohillas and ruled here, leading to its widespread development. He provided them with land, fostered trade, dug canals, sank wells and raised the revenue to a lakh and a quarter of rupees [9] though after his death in 1770, it was successively annexed by surrounding tribes of Rajputs, Gujjars, Sikhs and Gurkhas who ruled the region in quick succession, and lead to its steady downfall.
In 1804, it was annexed by the Gurkhas, who made the king of Garhwal, Pradyuman Shah, flee to Saharanpur, leaving the region to be ruled strictly by the Gurkha general 'BAL BHADRA KUNWAR'. Later, King Pradyuman Shah and his sons Kunwar Parakrama Shah and Kunwar Pritam Shah, and a 12,000 strong army fought with the Gorkhas at Khurbura, where Pradyuman Shah was killed.[ citation needed ]
In the same year, the British had already taken over Saharanpur, which led to continuous skirmishes between the two armies, leading to the Gurkha War (1814–1816), also known as the Anglo-Nepalese War, when eventually the Gurkhas were ousted after the siege of the fort of Nalapani.[ citation needed ]
The Sugauli Treaty, signed on 2 December 1815 and ratified by 4 March 1816, between the British East India Company and The Kingdom of Nepal, ending the second British invasion of the Himalayan kingdom during the Anglo-Nepalese War (1814–1816). The signatory for Nepal was Raj Guru Gajaraj Mishra aided by Chandra Sekher Upadhyaya and Lieutenant-Colonel Paris Bradshaw signed for the company.[ citation needed ]
The treaty led to the annexation of the Dehradun and east Garhwal Kingdom into the British Empire, and they became part of the Garhwal District, in the Kumaon Division of the United Provinces, and had an area of 5629 sq. mi, and that is when it slowly started regaining its lost glory. [10] [11] [12] Meanwhile, the west Garhwal was reinstituted to the Garhwal Kingdom, and Sudarshan Shah, son of the slain king, was made the king of Tehri Garhwal, who made Tehri his capital.
The British began establishing institutions 1816 onwards. The 'Dehra Dun' municipality was established in 1867, and in 1900 railways made its way to Dehradun via Haridwar, which was earlier connected in 1886. [13]
In 1901, Dehradun had a population of 24,039, [7] and was a district of British India, in the Meerut division of the United Provinces, [10] while the neighbouring town of Rajpur, which lay en route to the hill-station of Mussourie, and from where pure drinking water was supplied to the city through pipes, had a population of 2,900. [14] Dehra Dun also emerged as the centre of tea cultivation experiments by the British who thought of developing tea here even before Assam. Dehra Dun tea was once famous worldwide. [15]
During the Second World War the Dehra Dun Central Internment Camp was a major prison camp for detained Germans, Austrians and Italians who were living in or visiting British colonies in Asia at the start of the war. [16] Its most famous inmate was perhaps Heinrich Harrer, who after several attempts finally escaped in 1944 with Peter Aufschnaiter and slipped over the mountains into neutral Tibet. He recounted his time at the camp in Seven years in Tibet (Rupert Hart-Davis, 1953) and Beyond seven years in Tibet: my life before, during and after. (Labyrinth Press, 2007). Several German Buddhist monks, including Nyanatiloka, also stayed here. The camp was divided into different sections, one for Germans loyal to the Nazi government, one for German communists and others who rejected the Nazi government, one for Italians, and one section for Italian Catholic clergy. [17]
Dehradun has expanded as a city post-1947 and got its most iconic and central monument, the Clock Tower, soon after. The construction work of the six-faced Clock Tower, also called Ghanta Ghar, began in the year 1948 and its foundation stone was laid by Sarojini Naidu. It was built in the memory of local resident Lala Balbir Singh and is hence also named the Balbir Clock Tower. Its construction was completed in the year 1953 and it was inaugurated by the then Railways Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. A commemorative plaque inside the premises of the tower details this history. [18] The city became the hub of education and was made the capital of Uttarakhand state in the year 2000. It became a part of the Smart Cities Mission with nine smart city projects as a part of its development. [19]
Garhwal is one of the two administrative divisions of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. Lying in the Himalayas, it is bounded on the north by Tibet, on the east by Kumaon, on the south by Uttar Pradesh state, and on the northwest by Himachal Pradesh state. It includes the districts of Chamoli, Dehradun, Haridwar, Pauri Garhwal, Rudraprayag, Tehri Garhwal, and Uttarkashi. The people of Garhwal are known as Garhwali and speak the Garhwali language. The administrative center for Garhwal division is the town of Pauri. The Divisional Commissioner is the administrative head of the Division, and is a senior Indian Administrative Service officer. As the administrative head of the division, the Commissioner is overall incharge of the 7 districts in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, and is aided in his duties by an additional commissioner and the district magistrates. Sushil Kumar is the divisional commissioner of the Garhwal Division since December 2021.
New Tehri is a city and a municipal board in Tehri Garhwal District in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of Tehri Garhwal District. This urban municipality area has 11 wards, from Vidhi Vihar to Vishwakarma Puram.
Dehradun, also known as Dehra Doon, is the capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and is governed by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, with the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly holding its winter sessions in the city as its winter capital. Part of the Garhwal region, and housing the headquarters of its Divisional Commissioner, Dehradun is one of the "Counter Magnets" of the National Capital Region (NCR) being developed as an alternative center of growth to help ease the migration and population explosion in the Delhi metropolitan area and to establish a smart city in the Himalayas. It is the third largest city in the Himalayas after Kathmandu and Srinagar.
Uttarakhand, formerly known as Uttaranchal, is a state in northern India. The state is divided into two divisions, Garhwal and Kumaon, with a total of 13 districts. The winter capital and largest city of the state is Dehradun, which is also a railhead. On 5 March 2020, Bhararisain, a town in the Gairsain Tehsil of the Chamoli district, was declared as the summer capital of Uttarakhand. The High Court of the state is located in Nainital, but is to be moved to Haldwani in future.
Dehradun district is a district in Garhwal which is a part of Uttarakhand state in northern India. The district headquarters is Dehradun, which has also served as the interim capital of Uttarakhand since its founding in 2000. The district has 6 tehsils, 6 community development blocks, 17 towns and 764 inhabited villages, and 18 unpopulated villages. As of 2011, it is the second most populous district of Uttarakhand, after Haridwar. Dehradun district also includes the prominent towns of Rishikesh, Mussoorie, Landour and Chakrata. The district stretches from the Ganges river in the east to the Yamuna river in the west, and from the Terai and Shivaliks in the south and southeast to the Great Himalaya in the northwest. During the days of British Raj, the official name of the district was Dehra Dun. In 1842, Dun was attached to Saharanpur district and placed under an officer subordinate to the Collector of the district but since 1871 it is being administered as separate district.
Tehri Garhwal is a district in the hill state of Uttarakhand, India. Its administrative headquarters is at New Tehri. The district has a population of 618, 931, a 2.35% increase over the previous decade. It is surrounded by Rudraprayag District in the east, Dehradun District in the west, Uttarkashi District in the north, and Pauri Garhwal District in the south. Tehri Garhwal is a part of the Himalayas.
Gauchar is a Hill Town sort of a valley town located in Karnaprayag tehsil within Chamoli district of Uttarakhand state in India. Gauchar is situated on the left bank of river Alaknanda and is en route to the celebrated holy destination of Badrinath. It is well known for being one of the cleanest place in country. It has previously topped Swachta sarvekshan best ganga town award. Situated at an altitude of 800 metres (2,620 ft) above the sea level, Gauchar is surrounded by seven mountains. Gauchar is well known for its historic trade fair and airstrip. Gauchar town known for its great work to curb loss of lives in 2013 flood disaster of Uttarakhand. This town is unique in terms of its geographical location and topography. Gauchar is located on one of the largest pieces of flatland in this mountainous region of Uttarakhand. Education institution in Gauchar includes a beautiful Kendriya Vidyalaya adjacent to the main playground.
Sirmur was an independent kingdom in India, founded in 1616, located in the region that is now the Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh. The state was also known as Nahan, after its main city, Nahan. The state ranked predominant amongst the Punjab hill States. It had an area of 4,039 km2 and a revenue of 300,000 rupees in 1891.
Fateh Shah was the Hindu Rajput king of Garhwal, a small kingdom in North India, from 1684 to 1716.
Uttarakhand is a Himalayan state in North India, nestled between the Tibetan Plateau and the Indo-Gangetic Plains. The name, which means "northern land" or "section" or "northern part" in Sanskrit was made popular in the 80s as part of the wider statehood struggle within the region.
The Ceded and Conquered Provinces constituted a region in northern India that was ruled by the British East India Company from 1805 to 1834; it corresponded approximately—in present-day India—to all regions in Uttar Pradesh state with the exception of the Lucknow and Faizabad divisions of Awadh; in addition, it included the Delhi territory and, after 1816, the Kumaun division and a large part of the Garhwal division of present-day Uttarakhand state. In 1836, the region became the North-Western Provinces, and in 1904, the Agra Province within the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh.
The Garhwali people are an Indian ethnolinguistic group native to the Garhwal, in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, who speak Garhwali, an Indo-Aryan language.
Ramraiyas, also referred to as Ram Raiyas, are a Sikh sect that follow Ram Rai, the excommunicated eldest son of Guru Har Rai (1630–61).
Garhwal Kingdom was an independent Himalayan kingdom in the current north-western Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, India, founded in 823 CE by Kanak Pal the progenitor of the Panwar dynasty that ruled over the kingdom uninterrupted until 1803 CE.
Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah is a political and social worker, Member of Parliament elected from the Tehri Garhwal constituency in the Indian state of Uttarakhand being a Bhartiya Janata Party Leader and titular queen of erstwhile Tehri Garhwal kingdom which merged to India.
Shri Guru Ram Rai Institute of Medical & Health Sciences is a private medical college located in Patelnagar in Dehradun district, Uttarakhand, India. The medical college hospital was started in April 2002 and the college received permission for MBBS admission in 2006 and Postgraduate courses started in 2011. It was affiliated to Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Uttarakhand Medical Education University. It has an annual intake of 150 for MBBS seats and 97 Post graduate seats in various specialties recognized by MCI. In 2017 it became a constituent college of Shri Guru Ram Rai University.
Battle of Khurbura or Battle of Khudbuda also known as Gorkha-Garhwal War occurred in May 1804 near modern-day village of Dehradun, Khurbura 30.3256°N 78.0267°E. The battle is regarded as the first major attack in the history of Garhwal Kingdom that triggered between Kingdom of Nepal forces and Maharaja Pradyumna Shah, and continued for 13 days until the Garhwal king was defeated. It is chiefly regarded the only defeat of Pradyumna Shah's life and the victory of Gorkhali forces under Kingdom of Nepal.
Maharaja Pradyumna Shah or Pradyuman Shah, also known as Pradyumna Chand, was the last and 54th ruler of Garhwal dynasty until the kingdom was independent. He reigned over the state territories from 1785 to 14 May 1804, and later the kingdom was defeated by the Gurkha forces after the Battle of Khurbura occurred near Dehradun.
Guru Ram Rai Darbar Sahib is a Sikh place of worship in Dehradun, India, dedicated to Baba Ram Rai, eldest son of Guru Har Rai, the seventh of the ten Sikh Gurus. Baba Ram Rai settled here with his followers in the mid-17th century, after he was banished by the Sikh orthodoxy for mistranslating scripture in front of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, so as to not cause offence. It is believed the city, Dehradun, gets its name from the religious camp established by him: a "dera", or camp, in the "doon" valley.
Ram Rai was the excommunicated eldest son of the seventh Sikh Guru, Guru Har Rai, and the founder of the Ramraiyas, an unorthodox and heretical sect in Sikhism.
