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Harsil
Harshil (or Harsil) is a village, tourist hill station and army area located on the banks of the Bhagirathi River, on the way to Gangotri, a Hindu pilgrimage site in Uttarkashi district of the Indian state of Uttarakhand.
Situated at an altitude of 9,005 ft (2,745 metres.) from sea level, Harsil lies 78 km. from Uttarkashi, and 30 km away from the Gangotri National Park which is spread across 1,553 square km. The hill station is well- known for its natural environment and apple production.
According to the local legend, Harsil got its name from the rivers Bhagirathi and the Jalandhari as once they had an argument over their significance. Vishnu, also known as Hari, was asked to intervene. He turned himself into a great stone, a shila, and absorbed their anger. Even today, after Hari-shila (or Harsil), the waters of the two rivers have become a little less turbulent.
Harshil lies on the old caravan trail between Tibet Autonomous Region and India, where trade & marriages once flourished.
Harshil has been under the Kingdom of Garhwal. In 1815 Anglo-Nepal War, British Raj] sided with the Kingdom of Garwal and as a reward they were given the eastern half of Garhwal.
In mid-nineteenth century, apples and rajma cultivation was introduced to Harshil by Frederick Wilson, which became Himachal's main cash crops. In 1842, "Frederick Wilson", also called "Frederick “Pahari” Wilson" and "Pahari Wilson", a 25-year-old Englishman, deserted the East India Company’s army and fled to remote Harshil where he made fortune by logging deodar trees and selling those to British for the construction of railways. He was nicknamed "Raja of Harshil" by locals, even issued own coins. He was a friend of A. O. Hume and Rudyard Kipling, later's novel The Man Who Would Be King was inspired by the story of Wilson. Journalist Robert Hutchison wrote a book "The Raja of Harsil" on Wilson. A local deity's priest cursed him for destroying the forests and ecology. After he died in 1883, his 3 sons squandered the inheritance and died, his last known descendant, who had joined the Indian Air Force, died in air crash after the World War II. Sunderlal Bahuguna, founder of Chipko Movement, blamed Wilson for Garhwal's ecological destruction. Marco Pallis, Peaks and Lamas (New York, Knopf, 1940) includes an account of a visit to Harsil and environs in the 1930s.
Harshil Valley has a cluster of around eight villages near the India-China border. Upper reaches of Harshil are connected to Nelang Valley. It is also connected to the Baspa Valley by several passes including the Lamkhaga Pass.
A small number of indigenous (of Nelong valley) Jadhs, an ethnic group of the Bhotiyas, have lived here (since hundreds of years) as Harsil valley was enroute Nelong-Rishikesh and practiced transhumance. They speak Bhoti language resembling Tibetan. There is also a sizeable Tibetan settlement in a close vicinity to ITBP Campus housing a Stupa (Buddhist Burial Mound) and beautifully carved wooden houses.
Harsil
Harshil (or Harsil) is a village, tourist hill station and army area located on the banks of the Bhagirathi River, on the way to Gangotri, a Hindu pilgrimage site in Uttarkashi district of the Indian state of Uttarakhand.
Situated at an altitude of 9,005 ft (2,745 metres.) from sea level, Harsil lies 78 km. from Uttarkashi, and 30 km away from the Gangotri National Park which is spread across 1,553 square km. The hill station is well- known for its natural environment and apple production.
According to the local legend, Harsil got its name from the rivers Bhagirathi and the Jalandhari as once they had an argument over their significance. Vishnu, also known as Hari, was asked to intervene. He turned himself into a great stone, a shila, and absorbed their anger. Even today, after Hari-shila (or Harsil), the waters of the two rivers have become a little less turbulent.
Harshil lies on the old caravan trail between Tibet Autonomous Region and India, where trade & marriages once flourished.
Harshil has been under the Kingdom of Garhwal. In 1815 Anglo-Nepal War, British Raj] sided with the Kingdom of Garwal and as a reward they were given the eastern half of Garhwal.
In mid-nineteenth century, apples and rajma cultivation was introduced to Harshil by Frederick Wilson, which became Himachal's main cash crops. In 1842, "Frederick Wilson", also called "Frederick “Pahari” Wilson" and "Pahari Wilson", a 25-year-old Englishman, deserted the East India Company’s army and fled to remote Harshil where he made fortune by logging deodar trees and selling those to British for the construction of railways. He was nicknamed "Raja of Harshil" by locals, even issued own coins. He was a friend of A. O. Hume and Rudyard Kipling, later's novel The Man Who Would Be King was inspired by the story of Wilson. Journalist Robert Hutchison wrote a book "The Raja of Harsil" on Wilson. A local deity's priest cursed him for destroying the forests and ecology. After he died in 1883, his 3 sons squandered the inheritance and died, his last known descendant, who had joined the Indian Air Force, died in air crash after the World War II. Sunderlal Bahuguna, founder of Chipko Movement, blamed Wilson for Garhwal's ecological destruction. Marco Pallis, Peaks and Lamas (New York, Knopf, 1940) includes an account of a visit to Harsil and environs in the 1930s.
Harshil Valley has a cluster of around eight villages near the India-China border. Upper reaches of Harshil are connected to Nelang Valley. It is also connected to the Baspa Valley by several passes including the Lamkhaga Pass.
A small number of indigenous (of Nelong valley) Jadhs, an ethnic group of the Bhotiyas, have lived here (since hundreds of years) as Harsil valley was enroute Nelong-Rishikesh and practiced transhumance. They speak Bhoti language resembling Tibetan. There is also a sizeable Tibetan settlement in a close vicinity to ITBP Campus housing a Stupa (Buddhist Burial Mound) and beautifully carved wooden houses.