The history of Uttarakhand goes down to the stone age. The are evidences of the people living in the Stone Age in the state of Uttarakhand in India.
Paintings on the rocks of the stone age period have been found in Lakhu Udyar Almora, Kimni village and Gyarkhya gufa in Chamoli districts. The paintings unearthed here belong to the Mesolithic period.
Some more rock painting are found in Levpath, Falsima and Pethshala in Almora, Hudli in Uttarkashi and Bakhot in Pithoragarh.
Some of Archaeological finding unearthed in the Malari village of Chamoli Uttarakhand support the existence of early Vedic (1500 bc) practices in the area during the early history.
The Stone Age at Uttarakhand are also depicted by the inscriptions in the Gupta Brahmi and Sankha scripts. Paleolithic stone tools (hundreds of thousands of years old), and megaliths indicate that the mountains of the region have been inhabited by humans since pre historic times.
In the Skanda Puran the Garhwal and Kumaon regions of Uttarakhand are mentioned by the name Kedarkhand and Manaskhand. The area from Haridwar to the Garhwal Himalayas were mentioned as Kedarkhand and the area from Nanda Devi Mountains till the Kalgiri ranges are mentioned as Manaskhand. The Nanda Devi Mountains divides the two regions of Kedarkhand and Manaskhand.
The various depictions in the literatures of the Puranic period metion Uttarakhand as Uttar-Khand, Brahmapur and Khasdesh. The early literatures were all mostly centered around the mighty river Ganga.
The Baudhic literatures written in Pali language also has mention of Uttarakhand by the name of Himwant.
Early scriptures mention a number of tribes that inhabited the Garhwal and Kumaun regions such as the Akas, Kol-Munds, Nagas, Paharis (Khasas), Hephthalites (Hunas), Kiratas, Gujjars, and Aryans.
Uttarakhand was vistited by pilgrims, scholars, hermits and great emperors, such as the Kushanas, Kudinas, Kanishka, Samudragupta, Katuria, Palas, Chandras and Pawaras for its heavenly natural beauty and its mention in almost all the great vedas and purans and relationship with the great legendary epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana.
Early scriptures mention a number of tribes that inhabited the Garhwal and Kumaun regions such as the Akas, Kol-Munds, Nagas, Paharis (Khasas), Hephthalites (Hunas), Kiratas, Gujjars, and Aryans.
In the early history, Uttarakhand was vistited by pilgrims, scholars, hermits and great emperors, such as the Kushanas, Kudinas, Kanishka, Samudragupta, Katuria, Palas, Chandras and Pawaras for its heavenly natural beauty and its mention in almost all the great vedas and purans forming relationship with the great legendary epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana.
