<P> Uttarakhand is both the new and traditional name of the state that was formed from the hill districts of Uttar Pradesh, India . Literally Northern Land or Section in Sanskrit, the name of Uttarakhand finds mention in the early Hindu scriptures as the combined region of Kedarkhand and Manaskhand . </P> <P> Uttarakhand was also the ancient Puranic term for the central stretch of the Indian Himalayas . Its peaks and valleys were well known in ancient times as the abode of gods and goddesses and source of the Ganges River . Today, it is often called "the Land of the Gods" (Devbhumi) because of the presence of a multitude of Hindu pilgrimage spots . Uttarakhand is known as Devbhumi from ancient times . The Pauravas, Kushanas, Kunindas, Guptas, Katyuris, Palas, the Chands, and Parmars or Panwars and the British have ruled Uttarakhand in turns . </P> <P> The region was settled by the Kol people, a population speaking a language that belongs to the Munda language family . The Kol peoples were later joined by Indo - Aryan (Khas) tribes that arrived from the northwest by the Vedic period . At that time, present - day Uttarakhand also served as a haunt for Rishis and Sadhus . It is believed that Sage Vyasa scripted the Mahabharata here as the Pandavas are believed to have traveled and camped in the region . Among the first major dynasties of Garhwal and Kumaon were the Kunindas in the 2nd century B.C. who practiced an early form of Shaivism . They traded salt with Western Tibet . It is evident from the Ashokan edict at Kalsi, near Dehradun in Western Garhwal that Buddhism made inroads in this region . Shamanic religions are practiced by the Kol peoples and Folk Hinduism would emerge as a Hindu tradition distinct from Hindu orthodoxy . However, Garhwal and Kumaon were restored to nominal Brahmanical rule due to the travails of Shankaracharya and the arrival of migrants from the plains . In the fourth century, the Kunindas gave way to the Naga Dynasties . Between the 7th and 14th centuries, the Katyuri dynasty of Khas origin dominated lands of varying extent from the Katyur (modern day Baijnath) valley in Kumaon . Other peoples of the Tibeto - Burman group known as Kiratas are thought to have settled in the northern highlands as well as in pockets throughout the region, and believed to be the ancestors to the modern day Bhotiya, Raji, Buksha, and Tharu peoples . </P>

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