Narendranagar is a town and a

municipal board A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

Tehri Garhwal district Tehri Garhwal is a district in the hill state of Uttarakhand, India. Its administrative headquarters is at New Tehri. The district has a population of 618,931 (2011 census), a 2.35% increase over the previous decade. It is surrounded by Rudra ...

in the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand (, ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. The state is bordered by Himachal Pradesh to the n ...

Geography

Narendranagar is located at . It has an average elevation of 1,020 metres (3,349 feet).

Demographics

India

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, Narendranagar had a population of 4796. Males constitute 59% of the population and females 41%. Narendranagar has an average literacy rate of 82%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 86%, and female literacy is 74%. In Narendranagar, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.

History

The present town of Narendranagar came into existence in 1919,History
''Narendranagar'' official website. when Maharaja Narendra Shah of

Tehri Garhwal Tehri Garhwal is a district in the hill state of Uttarakhand, India. Its administrative headquarters is at New Tehri. The district has a population of 618,931 (2011 census), a 2.35% increase over the previous decade. It is surrounded by Rudrap ...

moved his capital from

Tehri New Tehri is where Vidushi lives a city and a municipal board in Tehri Garhwal District in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of Tehri Garhwal District. This urban municipality area has 11 wards, from Vidh ...

to a more picturesque locale. The small town of Odathali nestled in the Shivalik foothills was chosen not only for its extraordinary scenic beauty, but also for its proximity to the plains below. On a clear day one can get aerial view of

Rishikesh Rishikesh, also spelt as Hrishikesh, is a city near Dehradun in the Indian state Uttarakhand. The northern part of Rishikesh is in the Dehradun district while the southern part is in the Tehri Garhwal district. It is situated on the right bank ...

Haridwar Haridwar (; ; formerly Mayapuri) is a city and municipal corporation in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand, India. With a population of 228,832 in 2011, it is the second-largest city in the state and the largest in the district. The city is s ...

and Ganga flowing from mountains to Plains of Haridwar. Odathali is a place of historic and mythological significance. It has been known to be a seat of spirituality and meditation since ancient times. According to legend, the sage Uddhava is known to have performed severe penance at this spot. Also, Purasara, the founder of astrology, has been known to conduct various experiments on the movements of planets and stars. His observatory has now been converted into the local polytechnic. Maharaja Narendra Shah was an enlightened ruler, as you can see in the well-ordered civic buildings of the neat little royal township of Narendranagar. Some of the buildings like the hospital and the secretariat are still in use today. The bazaar buildings too are a century old. In the early 1900s, Narendra Nagar became a popular destination with the British Viceroys of the time. The Palace 'Annexe' was added to the original palace building in 1910 to house the Viceroy and his entourage who visited Narendra Nagar fairly often. Over the years, the regal corridors of the Palace has echoed with the footsteps of many distinguished guests - former

Prime Ministers of India The prime minister of India is the chief executive of the Government of India and chair of the Union Council of Ministers. Although the president of India is the constitutional, nominal, and ceremonial head of state, in practice and ordinaril ...

Lal Bahadur Shastri Lal Bahadur Shastri (; born Lal Bahadur Srivastava; 2 October 190411 January 1966) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1964 to 1966. He previously served as Minister ...

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

and spiritual leaders like

Anandmayi Ma Anandamayi Ma (born Nirmala Sundari; 30 April 1896 – 27 August 1982) was an Indian saint, teacher, and mystic. She was revered as an incarnation of Hindu goddess Durga. She was described by Sivananda Saraswati (of the Divine Life Society) a ...

and

Swami Sivanand Swami Sivananda Saraswati (; 8 September 1887 – 14 July 1963), also called Swami Sivananda, was a yoga guru, a Hindu spiritual teacher, and a proponent of ''Vedanta''. Sivananda was born in Pattamadai, in the Tirunelveli district of modern ...

as well as the last British

Viceroy of India The governor-general of India (1833 to 1950, from 1858 to 1947 the viceroy and governor-general of India, commonly shortened to viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom in their capacity as the Emperor of ...

, Lord Mountbatten of Burma. The last Maharaja,

Manabendra Shah Lt. Col. Maharaja Manabendra Shah (26 May 1921 – 5 January 2007) was a member of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th Lok Sabha of India. He represented the Tehri Garhwal constituency of Uttarakhand and was a member of the I ...

took over the reins of

in 1946, from Maharaja Narendra Shah, who abdicated in the favour of his son.History

Rudraprayag Rudraprayag is a city and a municipality in Rudraprayag district in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. Rudraprayag is one of the Panch Prayag (five confluences) of Alaknanda River, the point of confluence of rivers Alaknanda and Mandakini. Keda ...

Official district website. The province was eventually merged with the state of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

shortly after India gained independence. 'The Narendranagar Palace', is now home to '

Ananda - In the Himalayas Ananda in the Himalayas is a luxury destination spa in Narendra Nagar, Uttarakhand, set in the Indian Himalayas. Set in a Himalayan mountain estate set amidst sal forests, overlooking the river Ganges, close to the towns of Rishikesh and Muni ...

', a destination spa, that looks down into the

Doon Valley The Doon Valley is an unusually wide, long valley within the Sivalik Hills and the Lesser Himalayas, in the Indian states of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. Within the valley lies the city of Dehradun, the winter capital of Uttar ...

from its majestic height of 3000 feet. Crowning a picturesque ridge of the mighty Himalayan ranges, the palace is a symbol of the grandeur and splendour of an era gone by. Original relief work still adorns the palace walls and two magnificent

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

cannons flank the royal gateway.

References

External links

Narendranagar, Official website

Narendranagar
at wikimapia. {{Municipalities of Uttarakhand Cities and towns in Tehri Garhwal district Populated places established in 1919