Tehri Garhwal district

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(Redirected from Tehri District)
Tehri Garhwal redirects here. For the former princely state, see Garhwal Kingdom.
For the Lok Sabha parliamentary constituency, see Tehri Garhwal (Lok Sabha
constituency).
Tehri Garhwal district
District
Location in Uttarakhand, India
Location in Uttarakhand, India
Coordinates 30.38N 78.48ECoordinates 30.38N 78.48E
Country India
State Uttarakhand
Division Garhwal
Headquarters Tehri
Area
Total 4,080 km2 (1,580 sq mi)
Population
Total 604,747
Density 148km2 (380sq mi)
Languages
Official Hindi
Native Garhwali
Time zone IST (UTC+530)
Vehicle registration UK 09
Website tehri.nic.in
Tehri Garhwal is one of the largest districts in the hill state of Uttarakhand,
India. Its administrative headquarters is at New Tehri. The district has a
population of 604,747 (2001 census), a 16.15% 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.

Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
2.1 Early
2.2 Garhwal Kingdom
2.3 Gorkha Rule
2.4 New capital
3 Economy
4 Crops
5 Assembly Constituencies
6 Administrative setup
7 Major towns
8 Villages
9 Demographics
10 Modern developments
11 References
12 External links
Etymology[edit]
The name Tehri has been derived from Trihari, signifying a place that washes away
the three types of sins sins born out of Mansa, Vacha and Karmana or thought,
word and deed, respectively. Garh in Hindi means fort.

History[edit]
Early[edit]
Prior to 888 AD, the region was divided into 52 garhs which were ruled by
independent kings. These garhs were brought into one province by Kanakpal, the
prince of Malwa. Kanakpal, on his visit to Badrinath, had met the then mightiest
king Bhanu Pratap who later married his only daughter to the prince and handed over
his kingdom to him. Kanakpal singh and his descendants gradually conquered all the
garhs and ruled the whole of Garhwal Kingdom for the next 915 years, up to 1803.

Garhwal Kingdom[edit]
Main article Garhwal Kingdom

Princely flag of Tehri Garhwal.

Tehri Garhwal[1] or Garhwal Kingdom, was a princely state, ruled by the Parmar
(Shah) dynasty. Later, it became a part of the Punjab Hill States Agency of British
India, which consists of the present day Tehri Garhwal District and most of the
Uttarkashi district. In 1901, it had an area of about 4,180 square miles (10,800
km2) and a population of 268,885. The ruler was given the title of raja, but after
1913, he was honoured with the title of Maharaja. The ruler was entitled to salutes
of 11 guns and had a privy purse of rupees 300,000. The princely state acceded to
India on 1 August 1949.

Gorkha Rule[edit]
In 1803, the Gorkhas took over Garhwal.[2] Gorkha army believed that all pahari
people should be under one rule and one king. The Gorkha army generals Subba Amar
Singh, Hastidal Chautariya, Bamshah Chautariya and Ranjor Thapa commanded a huge
army in the crusade against King Pradyumna Shah and his sons Kuwar Parakrama Shah
and Kuwar Pritam Shah. A 12,000-strong army fought with the Gorkhas at Khurhbure
where the king was killed. Gradually, the Gorkhas captured Dehradun, Saharanpur,
Kangada and Shimla and later on extended their kingdom up to Kangara.

1903 map of United Provinces showing the boundaries of Garhwal Kingdom

From 1787 to 1812, the Gorkhas captured nearly 200 villages which were under the
control of the East India Company. The British argued with the king of Nepal but to
no avail. Finally, the Gurkha War (Anglo-Nepalese War) began in 1814, when an army
of 8,000 under Major General Marley attacked Kathmandu. Four thousand soldiers
under Major General Wood started an operation from Gorakhpur and 3,500 soldiers
attempted to take over Dehradun under Major General Zileswy, where a Gorkha army of
300400 was led by Balbhadra Thapa. The Gorkhas fought a fierce battle and crushed
the British, who were reinforced by soldiers and cannons. Finally, the British army
captured Dehradun on 30 November 1814.

The British Army then moved towards Kumaon. After a fierce battle, the Gorkha
commanders Hastidal and Jayrakha were killed at Vinayathal. The war ended with the
Sugauli Treaty, signed on 2 December 1815 and ratified on 4 March 1816 by Gorkha
supreme commander Bamshah and thus, British rule started in the hills. The East
India Company then merged Kumaon, Dehradun and east Garhwal into the British Empire
while west Garhwal was given to Sudarshan Shah which then became known as Tehri
Riyasat. This was the start of the end of the Khas culture in central pahari area.
Hindi has taken over as the language and pahari people culture was usurped by the
culture of the plains - Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.

New capital[edit]
King Sudarshan Shah established his capital at Tehri town and afterwards his
successors Pratap Shah, Kirti Shah and Narendra Shah established their capital at
Pratap Nagar, Kirtinagar and Narendra Nagar, respectively. Their dynasty ruled over
this region from 1815 to 1949. During the Quit India Movement people of this region
actively worked for the independence of the country. Ultimately, when the country
was declared independent in 1947, the inhabitants of Tehri Riyasat (Tehri State)
started their movement to free themselves from the clutches of the maharaja.

Due to this movement, the situation became out of his control and it was difficult
for him to rule over the region. Consequently, the 60th king of Pawar Vansh,
Manvendra Shah, accepted the sovereignty of the Indian government. Thus, in August
1949, Tehri Riyasat was merged into Uttar Pradesh and was given the status of a new
district, the Rudraprayag district.[3] Subsequently, on 24 February 1960, the state
government separated its one tehsil which was given the status of a separate
district named Uttarkashi. Former royal palace of the Maharaja of Tehri Garhwal at
Narendra Nagar, now houses the AnandaIn the Himalayas spa, established 2000.[4]

Economy[edit]
In 2006 the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Tehri Garhwal one of the country's 250
most backward districts (out of a total of 640).[5] It is one of the three
districts in Uttarakhand currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant
Fund Programme (BRGF).[5]

Crops[edit]
Dry season crops include wheat, barley, masoor, Bengal and red gram, rape seed and
mustard, and pea. Wet season crops include rice, barnyard millet, finger millet,
black gram, sesame and soybean. Various fruits and spices grow in the district
also.[6]

Assembly Constituencies[edit]
Ghanshali (SC)
Deoprayag
Narendranagar
Pratapnagar
Tehri -- Represented by Dhan Singh Negi
Dhanolti
Administrative setup[edit]
The district of Tehri Garhwal is divided into two subdivisions Kirti Nagar and
Tehri-Pratap Nagar. It has seven tehsils, one sub-tehsil, nine blocks, two
municipalities and four town area committees. The district covers 76 nyaya
panchayats and 928 gram panchayats. It has 1,847 revenue villages and 2,508
clusters.

Particulars Number Name

Subdivisions
2
Kirti Nagar and Tehri-Pratap Nagar and Dhanolti
Tehsils
7
Deoprayag, Ghansali, Narendra Nagar, Pratap Nagar, Tehri, Jakhanidhar and Dhanolti
and Kandisaur and Nainbaag
Sub-Tehsil
1
Gaja