Medieval Period - History of Uttarakhand - GovtVacancy.Net

Katyuri ruler

We get information about the Katyuri ruler in the medieval period orally through folklore and Jagar. The Asantidev dynasty of Katyuri, the Rajwars of Askot, and the Mallas of Doti were the branches of these.

Asantidev established the Asantidev dynasty in the state of Katyur and made his capital Joshimath, later changed to Ranchulakot. Its last ruler was Brahmadev.

 

Asantideva

According to the mountain folk tales and the genealogy of the princes of Askot, the Mallas of Doti, and the royal families of Palipachaun, Asantidev came from Joshimath and took control over Katyur. The names of the ancestors of Asantidev, Agnivarai, Phenavarai, Suvativarai, Keshavarai, and Bagdavarai are given in a handwritten text called Gurupaduk obtained from Joshimath. Who shifted the capital from Joshimath and established it at Ranchulakot in Katyur. After that Vasanjirai, Gorarai, Sanvalarai, Ilayanadev, Teelanadev, Pritamdev, Dhamdev, and Brahmadev ruled respectively in Katyur.

• In 1191 AD, King Ashokchala of Nepal attacked the state of Katyuri and occupied some part of it.
• In 1223 AD, Kachaldev of Nepal also attacked Kumaon and took it under his control.

Malla Dynasty

According to Atkinson, the date of the Gopeshwar inscription of the Nepali conqueror Ashokchala is 1191 AD, but no date has been given in the Digvijaya Indicator article of Ashokchalla inscribed on the trident of Gopeshwar. On the contrary, an inscription from Bodh Gaya of Ashokchala mentions Parinirvana Samvat 1813. According to Sinhalese tradition, the Parinirvana era started in AD 554.

In the thirteenth century, the Buddhist religious leader Malla dynasty emerged in Nepal. According to the Bageshwar inscription, in 1223 AD, Krachalladeva defeated the rulers of Kartikeyapur (Kattyur) who was himself the king of Dulu. Many inscriptions of the Malla dynasty have been found from Dulu and Jumla. It is known that from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, the Mallas dominated Kumaon Garhwal and Kailash Mansarovar in western Tibet. This Malla dynasty is called the Katyuri kingdom in the folk tales of Kumayun-Garhwal. The real founder of this empire was Ashokachalla.

The Chand Dynasty of Kumaon

After the fall of the Katyuri dynasty, the foundation of this dynasty was laid in Kumaon in about 700 AD, its first ruler is considered to be Somchand. In Kumaon, Chand and Katyuri were contemporaries in the beginning and there was a struggle for power between them, in which Chand was victorious in the end. The Chands made Champawat their capital. The present areas of Nainital, Bageshwar, Pithoragarh, Almora, etc. were under his control. In 1563, Raja Baldev Kalyan Chand shifted his capital to Almora. Garuda Gyan Chand was the most powerful king of this dynasty. It was during the rule of Chand kings that the tradition of appointing the head of the village started along with the fixation of land in Kumaon. In 1790, the Gorkhas of Nepal defeated the then Chand king Mahendra Chand in a simple battle at Hawalbagh and occupied Almora, thus ending the Chand dynasty.

Parmar Panwar Dynasty of Garhwal

Until the 9th century, Garhwal was ruled by 52 small and big Thakuri rulers, the most powerful of which was Raja Bhanupratap of Chandpurgarh. In 887 AD, the ruler of Dhar (Gujarat) came to the Kanakpal shrine, Bhanupratap welcomed it and married his daughter to him.

In 888 AD, Kanakpal laid the foundation of the Parmar dynasty in Chandpurgarh (Chamoli), from 888 AD to 1949, there were 60 kings in the Parmar dynasty. Ajaypal, the 37th king of this dynasty, conquered all the Gadhapatis and unified the Garhwal land. It established its capital first at Devalgarh then in 1517 AD at Srinagar.

Legend has it that the Sultan of Delhi Bahlol Lodi (1451-88) honored the Parmar king Balabhadrapal with the title of Shah. For this reason, Parmar came to be known as Naresh Shah.

In 1636 AD, the Mughal commander Nawazt Khan attacked the Doon-valley, and the then protected Queen of Garhwal state, Karnavati, with her valor, caught the Mughal soldiers and cut their noses, after this incident, Queen Karnavati was named "Nakkati Queen". became famous by name.

After defeating the Chandos of Kumaon in 1790 AD, he also attacked Garhwal in 1791 AD but was defeated. The Raja of Garhwal imposed an annual tax of Rs 25000 under the treaty with the Gorkhas and took a promise that they would not attack Garhwal again, but in 1803 AD, under the leadership of Amar Singh Thapa and Hastidal Chautaria, the Gorkhas attacked the earthquake-prone Garhwal. Taxes occupied a considerable part of them. During the Gorkha invasion, the people of Garhwal sided with the king and reorganized the army. On 14 May 1804, Pradhuman Shah was killed in a battle with Gorkhas at Khudbura Maidan of Dehradun, thus the entire Garhwal and Kumaon became the possession of Nepalese Gorkhas.

One of the sons of Pradhuman Shah, Kunwar Pritamshah, was taken captive by the Gorkhas and sent to Kathmandu, while the other son Sudarshan Shah tried to become independent by staying in Haridwar and on his demand, the British Governor-General Lord Hastings sent the British army against the Gurkhas in October 1814 and 1815. made Garhwal independent. But the Garhwal king had to give his kingdom to the British in agreement because he could not pay the cost of the battle against the British. After this, the Garhwal king established his capital at Tehri Garhwal in the state. Tehri continued to rule the state and after its merger with India, Tehri state was made a district of Uttar Pradesh.

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