Shiv Prasad Dabral (12 November 1912 – 24 November 1999), known by his

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

Charan, was an Indian historian, geographer, academic and writer from Uttarakhand. He is also known as 'Encyclopedia of Uttarakhand'. He started writing from 1931 onwards. He is the author of the monumental history of

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 ...

in 18 volumes, 2 collections of poetry, 9 plays, and several edited volumes in

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

and Garhwali. His ''Uttarakhand ka Itihaas'' (History of Uttarakhand) is widely used by

scholar A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...

s as reference work. He authored several books on the

archeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeolo ...

and

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

of Uttarakhand. To his credit, Charan saved 22 rare books of Garhwali language from extinction by republishing them at his own press. He also rediscovered a rare poetry manuscript of

Mola Ram Mola Ram or Maula Ram (1743–1833), p.119 was an Indian painter, who originated the Garhwal branch of the Kangra school of painting., pp.75–76 He was also a poet, historian and diplomat., p.25 Mukandi Lal did research on him. Life and ...

Biography

Source:

Early life and family

Charan was born on 12 November 1912 in Gahli village of

Pauri Garhwal Pauri Garhwal is a district in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. Its headquarters is in the town of Pauri. It is sometimes referred to simply as Garhwal district, though it should not be confused with the larger Garhwal region of which it is ...

district of

. His father Krishna Datt Dabral was the headmaster of local primary school. His mother's name was Bhanumati Devi. In 1935, he married Vishweshwari Devi.

Education and career

Charan received his primary education from primary schools of Mandai and Gadsir and further passed middle examination from Vernacular Anglo Middle School Silogi ( Gumkhal). He completed BA (

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

) from Meerut and BEd (

Bachelor of Education A Bachelor of Education (B.Ed. or BEd) is an undergraduate academic degree which prepares students for work as a teacher in schools. A Bachelor of Education program typically lasts three to four years and combines both coursework and practical exp ...

) from

Allahabad Prayagraj (, ; ISO 15919, ISO: ), formerly and colloquially known as Allahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi, Varanasi (Benar ...

. He did his MA Geography from

Agra University Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University, formerly Agra University, is an Autonomous University located in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. The university, formerly named as Agra University, was later named after Bhimrao Ambedkar. Affiliated colleges The U ...

. In 1962, he completed his doctorate (

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

) in

Geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

. Charan served as the Principal of D.A.B. College in Dugadda from 1948 until his retirement in 1975.

Work and research

Charan's thesis 'Alaknanda-Basin A Study of Transhumance, Nomadism and Seasonal Migration' was later published as three books. The lifestyle of the

Bhotiya Bhotiya or Bhot (, ) is an Indian and Nepali exonym lumping together various ethnic groups speaking Tibetic languages, as well as some groups speaking other Tibeto-Burman languages living in the Transhimalayan region that divides India from T ...

s and

pastoralists Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry where domesticated animals (known as "livestock") are released onto large vegetated outdoor lands (pastures) for grazing, historically by nomadic people who moved around with their herds. The anima ...

of Uttarakhand influenced him deeply and he started research in their history. From 1956, he started his research on Bhotyas in the village of Malari, which later drew him to the ancient mausoleums of Malari also therefore to archeology. His findings on the mausoleums were published as articles in Karmabhoomi, which in due course of time led to ASI to conduct proper research on the site. From 1960 onwards, Charan studied the archaeological remains of Panduwala,

Kotdwar Kotdwar is a city, municipal corporation in Pauri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand, India. It is just 101 km from Pauri, the district headquarter. It is the eighth-largest city in Uttarakhand. Its old name was "Kootdwar", which means the ga ...

, Mordhwaj,

Parasnath Parasnath Hill (also Sammet Shikhar, Marang Buru) is a mountain peak in the Parasnath hill range. It is located towards the eastern end of the Chota Nagpur Plateau in the Giridih district (Hazaribagh district in British India) of the India ...

fort and

Virbhadra Virbhadra is a town in Dehradun district in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, located close to the pilgrimage town of Rishikesh. It is most known as the factory township of Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited, Rishikesh plant (IDPL), a Gove ...

and collected the materials scattered in various archives. Along with this, he studied religious places,

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

s and sculpture architecture of Uttarakhand and also discovered inscriptions and

coin A coin is a small object, usually round and flat, used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by ...

s. He also opened his own press and published books under the name of ''Veergatha Prakashan''. In the course of time, he had collected about 3000 books, rare

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

s, coins and utensils of archaeological importance by opening a

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

and museum named "''Uttarakhand Vidya Bhavan''" at his house in Dugadda (Saruda). He published his research work mainly on the migratory routes of

of Uttarakhandi in the year 1963–64 in the form of three books ''Alaknanda Upataka'', ''Uttarakhand Ke Bhotantik'' and ''Uttarakhand Ke Pashucharak''. Thereafter, he focused his energy on preparing the history of Uttarkhand and thus, in the year 1965, ''Uttarakhand ka Itihaas'' Part-1 (Evidence Compilation) was published. In 1968, the second part of the history of Uttarakhand was published, which covered the period from the beginning to the fifth century BCE. The following year, the third part was published, which presented the history until the end of the Kalchurias. Part IV was published in 1971, which was an attempt to reconcile the history of

Garhwal 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 * Ga ...

from the thirteenth century to the Gorkha invasion. In 1972, ''History of Garhwal'' was published, in which the new materials and evidences found after the publication of earlier four parts was compiled. Part 5 was published in 1973, which was a detailed study of

Gorkha The Gurkhas or Gorkhas (), with the endonym Gorkhali ( Nepali: गोर्खाली ), are soldiers native to the Indian subcontinent, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of North India. The Gurkha units consist of Nepali and ...

rule in Uttarakhand and

Himachal Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...

. Therefore, two volumes of Part 7 (1976 and 1978) were published. Both the volumes were focused on

British colonial rule The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts establish ...

in Garhwal. Part 9 was published as ''Garhwal ka Padyamaya Itihasa'' in 1979. Publication was stopped for a few years, but Charan continued his research and writing work. In the meantime, the ''Veergatha Press'' was closed. Part 10 The History of Kumaon (from 1000 to 1790), published in 1978, which was a detailed study of the later Kalchuris and the Chauhan dynasty. In the same year, ''Garhwal ka Navin Itihas'' was published in the form of Part 11, in which new material was presented from Kalchuri to Chauhan rule. Part 12 was based on the Panwar dynasty. In Part 13, ''Uttarāṃcala ke Abhilekha evama Mudrā'' (Uttarakhand's Records and Currency) sources for the history of Uttarakhand were examined in 1990. ''Uttaranchal-Himachal ka Prachin Itihas'' (The ancient history of Uttaranchal-Himachal) was published in 3 volumes in 1992–95. In 1998, ''Pragaitihasik Uttarakhand'' (Prehistoric Uttarakhand) was published. In 1999, poetic compositions - ''Shaktamat ki Gatha'' and ''Matrudevi'' were published. Charan republished more than twenty rare texts related to

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

and folk literature of Garhwal. In each of the texts, he added meaningful commentaries. Among them, the works of

are important. ''Moularam'' ''Granthavali'' was published and printed from Dogadda in 1977.

Works

# ''Uttarākhaṃḍa Yātrā Darśana'' (उत्तराखंड यात्रा दर्शन) # History of Uttarkhand (12 Volumes) (उत्तराखंड का इतिहास -12 चरणों में) # ''Uttarāṃcala ke Abhilekha evama Mudrā'' (उत्तरांचल के अभिलेख एवम मुद्रा) # Alaknanda-Basin A Study of Transhumance, Nomadism and Seasonal Migration (3 books) # ''Guhāditya'' (गुहादित्य) # ''Gorā Bādala'' (गोरा बादल) # ''Mahārāṇā Saṃgrāma Siṃha'' (महाराणा संग्राम सिंह) # ''Pannādhāya'' (पन्नाधाय) # ''Sadeī'' (सदेई) # ''Satīrāmā'' (सतीरामा) # ''Rāṣṭra'' ''Rakṣā'' ''Kāvya'' (राष्ट्र रक्षा काव्य) # ''Gaḍhavālī'' (गढ़वाली) # ''Meghadūta'' (मेघदूत) # ''Hutātmā'' ''Paricaya'' (हुतात्मा परिचय) # ''Atīta'' ''Smṛti'' (अतीत स्मृति) # ''Saṃgharṣa'' ''Saṃgīta'' (संघर्ष संगीत) # ''Alaknanda Upataka'', # ''Uttarakhand Ke Bhotantik'' # ''Uttarakhand Ke Pashucharak''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dabral, Shiv Prasad 1912 births 1999 deaths Hindi-language poets Indian male poets Indian male essayists Hindi-language writers 20th-century Indian poets 20th-century Indian historians People from Pauri Garhwal district Himalayan studies Scholars from Uttarakhand