The Lineal Origins of Uttarakhand
A Written Documentation and Commentary on the Oral History of the Panwar Clan
Two brothers — Kanak Pal, and Suraj Singh of the Panwar clan of Agnivanshi Rajputs, migrated from their homeland in Gujrat in 688 C.E. This information can be confirmed by the information on Tehri Garhwal provided by Christopher Buyer’s Royal Arch database. The brothers married the daughters of the King of Kedarkhand. It is belived by some historians that Kedarkhand derived its name due to its dominion over and origin in Kedarnath. This Kedarkhandi origin also is the reason why Garhwal is sometimes called Kedarkhand.
The brothers then began a campaign of consolidating the 52 petty states and their 64 forts which made up the modern lands of Garhwal. Suraj or Su as he was usually called, established his fortress of Sugarh right next to modern day Devalgarh on the outskirts of the modern city of Srinagar. Thus, it can be assumed that the founding state of the Panwar dynasty streched from Kedarnath to Srinagar. Later generations, particularly Som Pal and Ajay Pal, built upon this core the kingdom of Garhwal. Lalit Shah of the Panwar dynasty would later invade and conquer the kingdom of Kumoun in 1777 — outlining what would eventually become the State of Uttarakhand.
It is important to understand the state entity of Kedarkhand is the same state entity as Garhwal, names can change but the entity is the same. This state ended in 1949 when Garhwal merged with India; however, it was reborn in 2000 with the founding of the state of Uttarakhand. In fact, Lalit Shah placed his older son on the throne of Garhwal, and his younger son on the throne of Kumoun. However, the younger Pradyuman Shah rebelled against his brother Jaikarat Shah and reunited the two thrones under one Panwar in 1785 with the suicide of the latter. Therefore, the people of Garhwal, Kumoun, and Jaunsur belong to the same sate entity which was founded in Kedarnath and has continued as Uttarakhand in the modern era, with a brief disruption from 1949 to 2000 C.E. The modern era has seen this venerable state under constant attack; therefore, it is imperative for the modern Uttarakhandi to recognize the lineal continuity of this state entity, its de facto reality, and work towards preserving and evolving its components for posterity.
