Chamoli district
Chamoli district is a district of the Uttarakhand state of India. It is bounded by China's Xizang Autonomous Region to the north, and by the Uttarakhand districts of Pithoragarh and Bageshwar to the east, Almora to the south, Pauri Garhwal to the southwest, Rudraprayag to the west, and Uttarkashi to the northwest. The administrative headquarters of Chamoli district is in Gopeshwar.
Chamoli hosts a variety of destinations of pilgrim and tourist interest including Badrinath, Hemkund Sahib and Valley of Flowers. The Chipko movement was first started in Chamoli.
Etymology
The name "Chamoli" is derived from the Sanskrit word chandramoli which stands for "One who wears the moon on his head" denoting the Hindu god Shiva.History
The region covered by the district of Chamoli formed part of the Pauri Garhwal district till 1960. It occupies the northeastern corner of the Garhwal tract and lies in the central or mid-Himalayas in the very heart of the snowy range described in ancient books as Bahirgiri, one of the three divisions of the Himalayan mountains.Chamoli, the district of "Garhwal" the land of forts. Today's Garhwal was known as Kedar-khand in the past. In puranas Kedar-khand was said to be abode of Hindu God. It seems from the facts vedas puranas, Ramayna and Mahabharat that these Hindu scriptures are scripted in kedar-khand. It is believed that Hindu God Ganesha wrote first script of vedas in Vayas gufa situated in the last village Mana only from Badrinath.
According to Rigveda after Inundation Sapt-Rishis saved their lives in the same village Mana. Besides there the roots of vedic literature seems to be originated from Garhwal because the Garhwali language has a lot of words common with Sanskrit. The work place of vedic Rishis are the prominent pilgrim places in Garhwal specially in chamoli like Atrimuni Ashram in Anusuya about from chamoli town and work place of Kashyap Rishi at Gandhmadan parwat near Badrinath. According to Aadi-Puran, vedvyasa scripted the story of Mahabhrat in Vyas Gufa near Badrinath. Pandukeshwar, a small village situated on the Rishikesh Badrinath high-way from where Badrinath is just away is regarded as Tapsthali of King Pandu. In Kedar-khand Puran this land is regarded the land of lord Shiva.
The authentic script about the history of Garhwal is found only 6th AD onward. Some of the oldest examples of these are the trishul in Gopeshwar, lalitsur in Pandukeshwar. The Narvaman rock script in siroli the chand pur Gari rock script by king Kankpal authenticates the history and culture of Garhwal.
It is believed that about 300 BC, Khasa invaded Garhwal through Kashmir Nepal and Kuman. A conflict grew due to this invasion a conflict took place between these outsiders and natives. The natives for their protection built small forts called Garhi. Later on, Khasa defeated the native totally and captured the forts.
Khasa confined Garhwal of hundreds of Garhi in to fifty-two Garhi only. One vashudev general of khasas established his regime on the northern border of garhwal and founded his capital in joshimath then Kartikeypur. Vashudev katyuri was the founder of katyura dynasty in Garhwal and they reign Garhwal over hundreds of years in this period of katyuri regime Aadi Sankaracharya visited Garhwal and established Jyotrimath which is one of the four Mathas established by Aadi Sankaracharya. In Bharat varsh other these are Dwarika, Puri and Sringeri. He also reinstated idol of Lord Badrinath in Badrinath, before this the idol of Badrinath was hidden in Narad-Kund by the fear of Budhas. After this ethicist of vaidic cult started to pilgrim Badrinath.
According to Pt. Harikrishna Raturi, King Bhanu Pratap was the first ruler of Panwar dynasty in Garhwal who founded Chanpur-Garhi as his capital. This was the strongest of the fifty-two in of garhwal.
The devastating earthquake of 8 September 1803 weakened the economic and administrative set-up of Garhwal state. Taking advantage of the situation, Gorkhas attacked Garhwal under the command of Amar Singh Thapa and Hastidal Chanturia. They established there, reign over half of the Garhwal in 1804 up to 1815 this region remain under Gorkha rule.
Meanwhile, the king of the Panwar dynasty, Raja Sudarshan Shah, contacted the East India Company and sought help. With the help of the British he defeated the Gorkas and merged the eastern part of Alaknanda and Mandakini along with the capital Srinagar and the capital of Garhwal was set up at Tehri instead of Srinagar. In the beginning, British rulers kept this area under Dehradun and Saharanpur. But later on, the British established a new district in this area and named it Pauri. Today's Chamoli was a tehsil of the same. On 24 February 1960, tehsil Chamoli was upgraded to a new district. In October 1997, two complete tehsil and two other blocks of district Chamoli were merged into a new formed district, Rudraprayag.
Geography
Chamoli, carved as a separate revenue district in 1960 out of the erstwhile Garhwal district, lies in the Central Himalaya and constitutes a part of the celebrated 'Kedar Kshetra'. Chamoli District is surrounded by Uttarkashi in the northwest, Pithoragarh in the east, Bageshwar in the southeast, Almora in the west, Pauri Garhwal in the southwest and Rudraprayag in the west. The geographical area of the district is around.Climate
As the elevation of the district ranges from 800 m to 8,000 m above sea level the climate of the district vary largely depending on the altitude. The winter season is from about mid November to March. As most of the region is situated on the southern slopes of the outer Himalayas, monsoon currents can enter through the valley, the rainfall being heaviest in the monsoon from June to September.River system
Chamoli district is crisscrossed by several important rivers and their tributaries. Alaknanda, traversing a distance of 229 km. before it confluence with Bhagirathi at Devprayag and constituting the Ganges, is the major river.The Alaknanda originates at a height of 3641 meters below Balakun peak 16 km. upstream from Badrinath form the two glaciers of Bhagirath Kharak and Satopanth. The two glaciers rise from the eastern slopes of Chaukhamba peak, Badrinath peak and its satellite peaks. These peaks separates the Gangotri group of glaciers in the west. The major portion of the Alaknanda basin falls in Chamoli district. From its source up to Hallang, the valley is treated as upper Alaknanda valley. The remaining part of the area is known as lower Alanknanda valley. While moving from its source, the river flows in a narrow deep gorge between the mountain slopes of Alkapuri, from which it drives its name. All along its course, it drains its tributaries:
- Saraswati joins the Alaknanda 9 km downstream from Mana.
- Khir Ganga joins it below the Badrinath shrine and Bhyundar Ganga originated from Tipra glacier and Hemkund Sahib joins Alaknanda River at Govindghat after merging with River Pushpawati at Ghangaria.
- Dhauliganga meets at Vishnuprayag above Joshimath. The river Dhauliganga rises from the Nitti Pass at about 5070 meters. Its valley lies between the Kamet groups of peaks in the west and Nandadevi group in the east. The Dhauli takes a northern course at Malari. Between Malari and Tapovan, it is almost a narrow gorge with perpendicular cliffs on either side. several thousand meters high. the Dhauliganga in its turn is fed by GirthiGanga at Kurkuti and Rishiganga 500 metres below Reni.
- Downstream small tributaries – Helang, Garud, Patal and Birahiganga join the Alaknanda between Joshimath and Chamoli.
- Nandakini, which rises from Semudra Glaciers drainage the western slopes of Trishul mountains, joins it at Nandprayag.
- Southeast, river Pindar joins the Alaknanda at Karnprayag. The Pindar river is fed by the Milam and Pindar glacier from the Nandadevi group of glacier. The Pindar river, before joining Alaknanda, is fed by Kaliganga and Bheriganga.
Nanda Devi glacier flood
On 7 February 2021 a part of Nanda Devi, a Himalayan glacier, broke away at Joshimath. This caused water levels in the Rishiganga and Dhauliganga rivers to rise. One dam at the Rishiganga Hydroelectric Project was destroyed and another, the Dhauliganga Hydropower Project at Reni village, suffered a partial collapse. Initial reports said eleven people were dead and 170 missing. Water levels on the Alaknanda also rose. Five bridges were destroyed, and flood alerts were issued for Pauri, Tehri, Rudraprayag, Haridwar, and Dehradun regions. In order to reduce rising water levels on the Alaknanda, the flow of the Bhagirathi River was stopped.Assembly Constituencies
- Badrinath
- Tharali
- Karnprayag
Demographics
The major predominant first language of the district is Garhwali, which according to the 2011 census was spoken by 90% of the population. Hindi, though widely used a lingua franca, is the first language of 5.1%, while smaller communities include speakers of Bhotia, Nepali, Kumaoni and Rongpo
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