About Uttarakhand

Uttarakhand (erestwhile Uttaranchal) is popularly known as the Devbhumi or the land of Gods. It was known as Kedarkhand and Manaskhand in the Purans. It was referred to as Uttarpanchal by the compilers of the Upnishads, Uttarkaushal by Valmiki and Uttarkuru by Ved Vyasa who wrote the epic Mahabharata. It is the same place that was Uattarapatti for Panini and Kautilya; Kiratmandal for Kirats, Khashadesh for the Khas, Kartipur for Katayurs. It was Parvatkaran and Giryavali for the early historian and Uttarakhand of the present day politicians.

Uttarakhand is composed of Kumaon and Garhwal. Kumaon is derived from Kurmanchal which is believed to the place where the Turtle (Kurma) incarnation of lord Vishnu took place. The western part of Uttarakhand comprises of 52 fortresses has been referred to as Garhwal (land of forts) over past 500 years.