A bird eye view of Chaukhutia valley.
Chaukhutia-The Rangeelo Gewar Situated on the banks of sacred river Ramganga, Chaukhutia attracts large number of tourists as it is also the Yatra Marg to Badrinath. Of late there has been an increase in the number of French tourists visiting Chaukhutia. You can have a bird view of Chaukhutia from the PWD Guest House which is situated on the top of the hill. Chaukhutia Ganai is situated in Almora District of Uttarakhand and is 95 Km. away from the District Headquarter. To reach Chaukhutia from Delhi one can straight-away come to Ranikhet and can reach Chaukhutia which is about 54 Kms. from Ranikhet. From the Railway Head Kathgodam it is 123 Kms. via Ranikhet. One can come to Nainital from where one can reach Chaukhutia via Ranikhet. Chaukhutia which used to be the Capital of Katyuri Kings, once upon a time, is also known as Rangilo Gewar (colourful Gewar). Chaukhutia as the name suggests is the combination of Chau and Khutia. Chau or Char means four and Khutia in Kumaoni means the foot. Some say Chaukhutia is made from Kumaoni word Chaukhuta, which means four feet. Four valleys meet at this place. The Ramganga valley, the valley towards Dwarahat, Masi and Pandukhal are visible from this place. Some say that it is the meeting point of four villages, i.e. Chaukhutia, Chandikhet, Bakhli and Ganai. Some suggest that it is meeting point of four roads, i.e. Ranikhet-Dwarahat-Chaukhutia road; Badrinath Yatra route- Ramnagar to Chaukhutia; Karnaprayag to Chaukhutia and Taragtal to Chaukhutia. In any case the place, known for its natural beauty is famous for its bumper crop of Mangoes.
The place is also famous for its historical past. It is said that Pandavas had their abode in Chaukhutia and adjoining areas during the period when Pandavas were in secret exile. The place has a legendary past. The Lake of Taragtal, Bairat City of Raja Malushai, the Capital of Katyuris Lakhanpur, Pandukhal, Bhairab Garhi Temple, Bhumia Temple, Mansa Devi, Agneri, Kaligarh, Bableshwar, Shiv Mandir, Khirchaura Temple, Tarageshwar, Ram Paduka and a host of other religious places are situated in the vicinity of Chaukhutia. The nearby village Jaurasi situated in the western side of Chaukhutia has the potential for developing it as a tourist attraction centre, as a tea garden, cultivation of Mushroom as also for medicinal herbs. I had an association with Jaurasi. In fact when I was working as an Officer in the Life Insurance Corporation of India, I had an occasion to visit Jaurasi in 1973 to meet Mr. Ram Singh Bisht, who used be the Vice-Principal of Jaurasi Intermediate College. I undertook this journey on my 3.5 Bullet Motor Cycle. There was a dilapidated forest route to Jaurasi at that time, but somehow I could manage to reach Jaurasi on my Motorcycle. It is some 35 year back. I was the first motorcyclist to have reached Jaurasi and on reaching Jaurasi, I received a resounding ovation from the curious villagers and was surrounded by them, as if I had landed on the Moon. On the eastern side is
Taragtal Lake, which can be developed as a Dam. The Lake is around 2 Kms long and 0.5 Km. in breadth. This can very well be developed as a tourist attraction centre, by developing it as an all weather Lake by constructing a Dam. Presently the Lake dries down in summers and the villagers reap a good harvest of wheat and mustard from this dried out lake. The Lake when developed would meet the demand for irrigation also.
The place is famous for its crop of Mangoes. The Mangoes grown here are very useful for preparing Pickle. The people want a Dehydration Plant to produce powder of the Mango, which may be used for preparing Jam, Jelly and other mango products. It is pertinent to mention the Mango in this area grows in September, October, when the Mango of the plains is not available. Chaukhutia was also in the limelight, when in 1984, people of Chaukhutia rose against Wine. The slogan was ‘Nasha nahin rojgar do’- Give us employment and not wine. The Uttarakhand Sangharsh Vahini was the pioneer to motivate the people against the ills of wine. I was also associated with this during this period, as Lok Chetna Manch was also working in this field and I happened to be the Founder and the President of Lok Chetna Manch at that time.
There is a place known as Udalikhan. Nearby is situated historical Lakhnpur Fort, which is situated at a good height, from where you can enjoy the bird eye view of Chakhutia. Lakhanpur has 24 temples. On one hill top at Lakhanpur is the Fort of Ashanti Devi and on the other side is Bahanti Devi Fort. In addition Fort of Viram Dev, Ghurshal (horse stable) and a tunnel is also there at this place.
The biggest attraction of the place is the sacred Ramganga River itself. It is an all weather river. If a dam is constructed on this river, it can be a tourist attraction. It is possible to develop a one-two Km. long lake at Chaukhutia. People have also been demanding that the Ramganga banks be developed in the same manner as Har-ki-Pauri, Haridwar has been developed. If properly developed, this place would attract tourists in sizeable number.
The Agneri Devi, one of the incarnation of Gayatri Devi derives its name from Gayatri Devi. Gayatri Devi had hundred names and one of the names of Gayatri Devi is Agneri Devi. This temple was renovated in 1901 the temple is famous for one more reason also. Every year in the month of Chatra, Shukla Paksha, Ashtami Tithi, Navratras, the Devi is offered the sacrifice of a Buffalo and a number of goats. The Navratras are celebrated in a big way at this temple and devotees from the surrounding areas religiously throng in the Temple. Some years back, some forward looking people tried to stop the sacrificial buffalo from killing, but the villagers prevailed upon the people and sacrificed the buffalo. The custom to sacrifice buffalos continues unabated. This is customary in Kumaon and Garhwal as the hill people belong to the Shakta Sect and pray the Shakti (Kali) and Lord Shiva.
Some vital statistics about Village Chaukhutia P.O. Ganai is pertinent to be mentioned here. Chaukhutia Block with its Headquarter at Chaukhutia was established in 1962. It got the status of a Tehsil in 2004. The Block is spread over an area of 36,365 Hectare. It has 171 Village Panchayats with 163 villages being habituated by the people, whereas 8 villages have no inhabitants. Its population as per 2001 census is 49,020. Female outnumber males and stand at 24,495, whereas the male population is 21,525. It has one Degree College, 12 Intermediate Colleges, 2 Sub-Post Offices, and 18 Branch Post Offices. It has 2 Telephone Exchanges, and a Television Relay Centre. With 5 Commercial Bank and 1 Co-operative Bank, Chaukhutia boasts of its riches. It has 9 Inspection Houses and Rest Houses. PWD Inspection House at Chaukhutia is worth visiting and staying. It has 69 Fair Price Shops, 3 Veterinary Hospitals, 7 Veterinary Publicity Centres, 1 Community Health Centre and 3 Additional Health Centres and 2 Homeopathic Treatment Centres.
Masi : 18 Kms. from Chaukhutia is Masi, a place with which I had a deep association during the period I worked as an Officer in the Life Insurance Corporation of India. In fact I was able to declare Adigram Fuloria as the first Bimagram of the hills with the cooperation of P.N.Chaunwal, Agent LIC and some of the respectable villagers which included Ishwari Datt Fuloria and Tara Datt Fuloria. The small village, hardly 3 Kms. from Masi, had a population of 224 at that time and 101 policies were taken by the villagers to see that their village is declared as a Bimagram of LIC. The Bimagram was inaugurated by Sri S.S.Jina, the then Hill Development Minister on 30 December, 1977 with great fanfare and a large gathering of the villagers.