Loss of Temple Land in Garhwal Villages

Temple land and temple Administration in British Garhwal-1

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                            British Administration in Garhwal   -91   

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History of British Rule/Administration over Kumaun and Garhwal (1815-1947) -109

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            History of Uttarakhand (Garhwal, Kumaon and Haridwar) -946

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                              By: Bhishma Kukreti (History Student)

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  Each Garhwal Village has one or more local deity temples as Siddhbaba, nagraja, gwill, Shivala, Devi, Ghandyal, Kunjai Devi, Khaddibta etc.  Before, British rule; the villagers had common land for managing the deity temple. This land was given on rent (grains) for managing the expenditure of temple. The temple land was called ‘Tok bhumi as ‘Nagraja Tok’. There was no tax on such land from Garhwal Kingdom and Gurkha regime. Trail declared such temple land as Khalsa land. However, people called such land as Tok land was the common property of all villagers.

           Later on British changed the rule and that the cultivator became the land owner of that land. By that the right of villagers on such Tok land was abolished by British.

 The grains harvested from Nagraja Tok used to transfer to Mukhim Nagraja (Tehri Garhwal) for Bhandara. The Fikwal (Bhikshuk) from Mukhim used to visit villages fro Food grains. Villagers used to offer grains to them for Bhandara. Dabral states that those Fikwal (Bhikwale, Bhikwal changed to Fikwal) were initially Buddhista and after Buddhism submerged into Vaishnav , the Fikwal became Vaishnav Hindu).

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Copyright@ Bhishma Kukreti Mumbai, India, bckukreti@gmail.com 20/12/2016

History of Garhwal – Kumaon-Haridwar (Uttarakhand, India) to be continued… Part -947

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*** History of British Rule/Administration over British Garhwal (Pauri, Rudraprayag, and Chamoli1815-1947) to be continued in next chapter

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(The History of Garhwal, Kumaon, Haridwar write up is aimed for general readers)

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References  

 1-Shiv Prasad Dabral ‘Charan’, Uttarakhand ka Itihas, Part -7 Garhwal par British -Shasan, part -1, page- 269-278

2- Becket, Garhwal Settlement Report, page 9, 45

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History of British Rule, Administration , Policies, Revenue system,  over Garhwal, Kumaon, Uttarakhand ; History of British Rule , Administration , Policies Revenue system  over Pauri Garhwal, Udham Singh Nagar Kumaon, Uttarakhand; History of British Rule, Administration, Policies ,Revenue system  over Chamoli Garhwal, Nainital Kumaon, Uttarakhand; History of British Rule, Administration, Policies ,Revenue system  over Rudraprayag Garhwal, Almora Kumaon, Uttarakhand; History of British Rule, Administration, Policies ,Revenue system  over Dehradun , Champawat Kumaon, Uttarakhand ; History of British Rule, Administration, Policies, ,Revenue system  over Bageshwar  Kumaon, Uttarakhand ;

History of British Rule, Administration, Policies, Revenue system over Haridwar, Pithoragarh Kumaon, Uttarakhand;