Narendra Shah establishing new Town Narendra Nagar
History of Tehri King Narendra Shah -21
History of Tehri Kingdom (Tehri and Uttarkashi Garhwal) from 1815 –1948- 213
History of Uttarakhand (Garhwal, Kumaon and Haridwar) – 1460
By: Bhishma Kukreti (History Student)
King Narendra had ample assets to spend as compared to his predecessors. Narendra Shah decided for establishing a new Township where modern amenities and facilities would be available as Motor road, new modern houses, electricity etc. There were towns as Tehri, Pratap Nagar, Kirti Nagar but it was difficult to construct motor road. Narendra Shah recognized Urhthali place for developing new Township in .Urhthali. Urhthali was just ten miles away from Rishikesh and it was easy for constructing motor road from Rishikesh to Urhthali having height of 5000 feet. He named the town on his own name Narendra Nagar. The work for new township development started from 1921 and continued for ten years (1).
Narendra Shah started Sahashtra Chandi Path a ritual performance in November 1921 as starting ritual for establishing Narendra Nagar. Jaya Datt Daurgadatti was chief priests for the ritual. Narendra Shah invited many well acknowledged Karmakandi Brahmins from both the Garhwal for Chandi Sahashtra Path .Daurgadatti mentioned following priests attending the Chandi Path and following priests performed the ritual of Chandi i path –
Harinanad Ghildiyal, Sadanand Nautiyal, Kashivisheshwar Ghiliyal, Jagannath Pant, Medniidhar Dangwal, Bhola Datt Shastri, Satya Prasad Bahuguna, Medhakar Maithani, Govindram Uniyal, Visheshwarnanad Pande, vamdev Ghildiyal, Lalita Prasad Uniyal, Janhavi Prasad, Siddha Nand , Radhalrishna Maithani, Narayan Datt, Kishor Chnadra , Yongendra Krishna Daurgidatta , Mitra Nand pant, Gangaram naithani (2). Duputy Collector Bhairav Datt Painyuli and Shriram Painyuli were chief managers.
In 1924, Narendra Shah returned from England tour and he performed home entry ritual for New palace and from that day, King and King family members started living in the palace. The construction of secretirate and other government buildings work continued till 13th January September1942. The work of Holy Hospital in Narendra Nagar was completed by 1925. There were shops, houses for government employees wre also built in Narendra Nagar. The total expenses was Rs, 30 lakhs for establishing the new township. (2)
References-
1-Dabral S., Tehri Garhwal Rajya ka Itihas Bhag 2 (new edition), Veer Gatha Press, Dogadda, (1999) page 19
2- Daurgadatti , Narendravanshkavyam p 214-215
Copyright@ Bhishma Kukreti