Harsil, the Himalayan paradise, is a village, tourist hill station and army area located on the banks of the

Bhagirathi River The Bhāgīrathī (Pron: /ˌbʌgɪˈɹɑːθɪ/) is a turbulent Himalayan river in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, and one of the two headstreams of the Ganges, the major river of Northern India and the holy river of Hinduism. In the Hindu ...

, on the way to

Gangotri Gangotri is a town and a ''Nagar Panchayat'' (municipality) in Uttarkashi district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is 99 km from Uttarkashi, the main district headquarter. It is a Hindu pilgrim town on the banks of the river Bhagirat ...

, a Hindu pilgrimage site in

Uttarkashi Uttarkashi, meaning Varanasi, Kashi of the north, is a town located in Uttarkashi district in Uttarakhand, India. Uttarkashi town is headquarters of the district. Uttarkashi is also known as Somya Kashi. Uttarkashi is a religious place for spir ...

district of the Indian state of

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...

Situated at an altitude of 9,005 ft (2,745 metres.) from sea level, Harsil lies 78 km. from

, and 30 km away from the

Gangotri National Park Gangotri National Park is a national park in Uttarkashi District of Uttarakhand in India, covering about . Its habitat consists of coniferous forests, alpine meadows and glaciers. Gaumukh at Gangotri glacier, the origin of river Ganga, is loc ...

which is spread across 1,553 square km. The hill station is well- known for its natural environment and apple production.

Background

Etymology

According to the local legend, the Harsil got its name from the rivers

Bhagirathi The Bhāgīrathī (Pron: /ˌbʌgɪˈɹɑːθɪ/) is a turbulent Himalayan river in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, and one of the two headstreams of the Ganges, the major river of Northern India and the holy river of Hinduism. In the Hind ...

and the Jalandhari as once they had an argument over their significance. Lord

Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" withi ...

, 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. Harsil

History

Harsil lies on the old caravan trail between

Tibet Autonomous Region The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China in Southwest China. It was overlayed on the traditional Tibetan regions ...

and India, where trade & marriages once flourished. Harsil has been under the Kingdom of Garhwal. In 1815 Anglo-Nepal War,

British raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

sided with the Kingdom of Garwal and as a reward they were given the eastern half of Garhwal. In mid 19th century, apples and rajma cultivation was introduced to Harsil by Frederick Wilson, which became Himachal's main

cash crop A cash crop or profit crop is an agricultural crop which is grown to sell for profit. It is typically purchased by parties separate from a farm. The term is used to differentiate marketed crops from staple crop (or "subsistence crop") in subsist ...

s. In 1842, ''"Frederick Wilson"'', also called ''"Frederick “Pahari” Wilson"'' and ''"Pahari Wilson"'', a 25-year-old Englishman, deserted the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sou ...

’s army and fled to remote Harsil where he made fortune by logging deodar trees and selling those to British for the construction of railways. He was nicknamed ''"Raja of Harsil"'' by locals, even issued own coins. He was a friend of A.O. Hume and

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)'' The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

, 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 The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air force, air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct ...

, died in air crash after the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Sunderlal Bahuguna Sunderlal Bahuguna Ji (9 January 1927 – 21 May 2021) was an Indian environmentalist and Chipko movement leader. The idea of the Chipko movement was suggested by his wife and him. He fought for the preservation of forests in the Himalayas, fi ...

, founder of

Chipko Movement The Chipko movement ( hi, chipko andolan, italic=yes, lit= reehugging movement) is a forest conservation movement in India. The movement originated in 1973 at the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand (then part of Uttar Pradesh) and went on to bec ...

, 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.

Geography

Harsil Valley has a cluster of around eight villages near the India-China border. Upper reaches of Harsil are connected to ''

Nelang Nelang or Nilang is a river valley of the Himalayas, containing a small eponymous village, in the Uttarkashi District of the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is close to the disputed Sino-Indian Line of Actual Control (LAC), and hence is also ...

Valley''. It is also connected to the

Baspa Valley Baspa Valley is a river valley that is said to be named after the Baspa River. It lies in the Kinnaur District of Himachal Pradesh, India. Sangla is a major town in the Baspa Valley, and the valley is also known as the Sangla Valley or Tukpa ...

by several passes including the

Lamkhaga Pass The Lamkhaga Pass (5,282 m / 17,320 ft) is one of the toughest pass which connects Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh with Harshil in Uttarakhand. Harsil-Kharcham Highway will have a Lamkhaga Pass tunnel, and the highway route will ...

Demography

Over the years, a small number of ''Jadh''s, an ethnic group of the

Bhotiya Bhotiya or Bhot ( ne, भोटिया, ) are groups of ethno-linguistically related Tibetan people living in the Transhimalayan region that divides India from Tibet. The word ''Bhotiya'' comes from the classical Tibetan name for Tibet, , . ...

s, have settled here, and speak a language closely resembling

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken diale ...

. There is also a sizeable Tibetan settlement in a close vicinity to ITBP Campus housing a

Stupa A stupa ( sa, स्तूप, lit=heap, ) is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics (such as ''śarīra'' – typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns) that is used as a place of meditation. In Buddhism, circum ...

(Buddhist Burial Mound) and beautifully carved wooden houses.

Military setup

Army area

Harsil army area is a base camp of

Garhwal Scouts Garhwal may refer to the following topics associated with Uttarakhand, India: Places *Garhwal Himalaya, a sub-range of the Himalayas *Garhwal Kingdom, a former kingdom *Garhwal District (British Garhwal), a former district of British India *Garh ...

and

Indo-Tibetan Border Police The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) is a border patrol organization of India deployed along its borders with Tibet Autonomous Region. It is one of the seven Central Armed Police Forces, established in 1962 in the aftermath of the Sino-Indi ...

(ITBP). Since it is close to the disputed India-China Border, it is of military significance. On 6 November 2018, Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

visited Harsil to celebrate

Diwali Diwali (), Dewali, Divali, or Deepavali ( IAST: ''dīpāvalī''), also known as the Festival of Lights, related to Jain Diwali, Bandi Chhor Divas, Tihar, Swanti, Sohrai, and Bandna, is a religious celebration in Indian religions. It is ...

with ITBP soldiers.

Defence Institute of Bio-Energy Research

Harsil has a field station of the Defence Institute of Bio-Energy Research (DIBER), earlier known as the ''Defence Agricultural Research Laboratory'' (DARL), run by the

Defence Research and Development Organisation The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) (IAST: ''Raksā Anūsandhān Evam Vikās Sangaṭhan'') is the premier agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development in Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, ...

(DRDO). DARL, engaged in the research and development of

bioenergy Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms biom ...

as well as the

sustainable Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

and

eco-friendly Environment friendly processes, or environmental-friendly processes (also referred to as eco-friendly, nature-friendly, and green), are sustainability and marketing terms referring to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies that clai ...

high altitude agro-technologies in the

Indian Himalayan Region The Indian Himalayan Region (abbreviated to IHR) is the section of the Himalayas within the Republic of India, spanning seven Indian states and union territories, namely Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, West B ...

for the use of Indian Military, has developed a range of vegetable varieties suitable for mid to high altitude. Haldwani in April 2008. During the Golden Jubilee year of DRDO, the laboratory was renamed from DARL to Defence Institute of Bio-Energy Research (DIBER) with a new mandate and thrust areas. DIBER has its origin in an Agriculture Research Unit (ARU) established 1960s at Sitoli, which was renamed to DARL in 1990s and to DIBER in 2008.Defence Agricultural Laboratory (DARL) Historical Background
DRDO, accessed 10 Sept 2021. Harsil filed research station was established in May 1973.

Tourism

Gangotri pilgrimage

Harsil is part of

Chota Char Dham The Chota Char Dham (literally translated as 'the small four abodes/seats', meaning 'the small circuit of four abodes/seats'), is an important Hindu pilgrimage circuit in Uttarakhand, in the Indian Himalayas. Located in the Garhwal region ...

yatra ( sa, यात्रा, 'journey', 'procession'), in Indian-origin religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, generally means a pilgrimage to holy places such as confluences of sacred rivers, sacred mountains, places associated ...

(pilgrimage) route. The idol of the

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

River Goddess

Ganga The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

(Ganges) is brought down from the shrine at Gangotri in the upper Himalayas after

and kept at 'Mukhba' village near Harsil. It remains there throughout the winter when Gangotri is snowbound and inaccessible.

Eco alpine mountain tourism

Government is developing the cluster of 8 villages of Harsil valley, as well as Nelang Valley for the tourism by creating tourist facilities. India's first

snow leopard The snow leopard (''Panthera uncia''), also known as the ounce, is a felid in the genus '' Panthera'' native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because the global population is es ...

conservation centre is being established in the region. During the summer tourist season, path to Gartang Gali cliff-side hanging stairway is open, along which homestays in the native villages are developed. Natives of the border villages, Sukki, Mukhba, Harsil, Bagori, Dharali, Jhala, Jaspur and Purali are trained as nature conservation and adventure guides for eco-tourism trekking, bird-watching, flora and fauna. Harsil town is being beautified, tourist lights being installed similar to those at

Nainital Nainital ( Kumaoni: ''Naintāl''; ) is a city and headquarters of Nainital district of Kumaon division, Uttarakhand, India. It is the judicial capital of Uttarakhand, the High Court of the state being located there and is the headquarters o ...

and

Mussoorie Mussoorie is a hill station and a municipal board, near Dehradun city in the Dehradun district of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is about from the state capital of Dehradun and north of the national capital of New Delhi. The hill s ...

, telescopes being set up at several places for

star gazing Amateur astronomy is a hobby where participants enjoy observing or imaging celestial objects in the sky using the unaided eye, binoculars, or telescopes. Even though scientific research may not be their primary goal, some amateur astronomers ...

Transport

Char Dham Railway's railhead at Maneri (62 km south on NH-34) is the nearest railway station.Achilles Heel in India's Border Defence with China!

Indian Defence Review Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

, 20 June 2017. Nearest airports are

Dehradun Airport Dehradun Airport , also known as Jolly Grant Airport, is a domestic airport serving Dehradun, the capital of Uttarakhand, India, located 25 km south of the city. Commercial operations began on 30 March 2008, after a runway extension to accom ...

(220 km southwest)Harsil tourist place
uttarkashi.nic.in, accessed 10 Sept 2021. and

Shimla Airport Shimla Airport is a regional airport located in Jubbarhatti, from Shimla, in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Kingfisher Airlines used to operate the sole daily flight from Delhi, but could not carry more than 28 passengers on its ...

(375 km west). Harsil is on NH-34 within the

Char Dham Highway Char Dham National Highway, is an under construction two-lane (in each direction) express National Highway with a minimum width of 10 metres in the Indian state of Uttarakhand under Char Dham Pariyojana . The under construction highway will co ...

network. The ''"Karcham-Harsil Road"'', nearly 150 km long route, was announced in 2020 which will link Karcham on NH-5 (site of

Karcham Wangtoo Hydroelectric Plant The Karcham Wangtoo Hydroelectric Plant is a run-of-the-river hydroelectric power station on the Sutlej River in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh state of India. Etymology The dam and power station are located between the villages o ...

) to Harsil, both in Himachal Pradesh. It will cut down present 450 km long distance, which take nearly 16 hours, to just nearly 150 km or 2 to 3 hours. Since Karcham and Harsial are 26 km and 52 km away from the

Line of Actual Control The Line of Actual Control (LAC), in the context of the Sino-Indian border dispute, is a notional demarcation lineAnanth KrishnanLine of Actual Control , India-China: the line of actual contest, 13 June 2020: "In contrast, the alignment of ...

(LAC) respectively, the new road will also enable the faster deployment of troop. This new road, to be constructed by

Border Roads Organisation The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is a road construction executive force in India that provides support to and is now a part of the Indian Armed Forces. BRO develops and maintains road networks in India's border areas and friendly neighboring ...

(BRO) at a cost between Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000 crore, is in addition to the 73 previously approved

India-China Border Roads India-China Border Roads (ICBRs, ICB Roads) is a Government of India project for developing infrastructure along the Sino-Indian border by constructing strategic roads, including bridges and tunnels. The ICBR project is largely in response to ...

(ICBR).Modi govt's infra push along China border — 2 new roads, alternate route to Daulat Beg Oldie
The Print, 15 September 2020.

References

External links

*{{Wikivoyage-inline Tourism in Uttarakhand Villages in Uttarkashi district