Srinagar, Uttarakhand

Not to be confused with another Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir

Srinagar is municipal board in Pauri Garhwal district in the Indian state of Uttarakhand.

Geography
Srinagar is located at . at the left bank of Alaknanda river. It has an average elevation of 560 metres (1,837 feet). It is the largest town in the Garhwal Hills. It is reached by national highway NH58 from Rishikesh, Srinagar is about 100 km from Rishikesh which is the last city on the plains of Uttarakhand and from where the mountains start. Srinagar can also be reached via Kotdwara, from Kotdwara it takes maximum 5 hours to reach there.

Demographics

As per the 2011 census, Srinagar had a population of 20,115. Males constituted 52% of the population and females 48%. Srinagar is the largest city in the Garhwal hills.

Geology
Srinagar city mainly rests over the Quaternary fluvial terraces of boulders and sand deposited by Alaknanda river. The hard rock under these boulder-sand terraces is the Proterozoic phyllite called Pauri Phyllite. This highly fractured Pauri Phyllite of Chandpur Formation (Jaunsar Group) is separated from the quartzite and limestone of Rudraprayag Formation by the North Almora Thrust (NAT), sometimes also called Srinagar Thrust.

History

Srinagar came into limelight after becoming the capital of Garhwal Kingdom. King Ajay Pal with unifying the various chiefdoms and garhis (small counties) of this region during 1506–1512 CE founded the Garhwal kingdom and shifted the capital to Srinagar place from Chandpur Garhi.

The Gorkhas defeated the Nepali king and occupied Kathmandu. This emboldened them and they turned westward and attacked Kumaon and Garhwal in 1803. Raja Pradyuman Shah of Garhwal was defeated and killed in January 1804. Srinagar was under Gorkha rule from 1806 to 1815 CE. After the Gorkhas were defeated by the British, Srinagar became a part of British Garhwal.

The old Srinagar city was destroyed in the  Gohna Lake dam-burst which destroyed all the old relics of the town.

Today the town is an important cultural and educational centre.  Being placed in central Garhwal at a moderate height, it is an important Valley Bazar in the hills.  It has a number of temples and monuments and places for tourists to stay and visit.

Climate
Srinagar is the hottest place in the Garhwal Hills in summers as it is at a low elevation of just 560 m. and the temperature reaches 45 °C on some days from May to July. It has chilly winters and the temperature can fall to 2 °C in December and January.

Education
Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University (renamed after Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna in 1989), established in 1973, is situated at Srinagar.  The University has jurisdiction over seven districts of the Garhwal region. It was made a Central University in 2009 by the Central Universities Act, 2009. It has two other teaching campuses at Pauri and Tehri towns. It is a residential cum affiliating institution of higher learning with more than 180 affiliated colleges.

National Institute of Technology Uttarakhand opened in 2010.

Srinagar Base Hospital Medical college with MBBS and MS courses having more than 500 students, is also situated at Srikot about 5 km from Srinagar towards Joshimath.

One ITI and one Polytechnic along with one B.Ed college are other educational institutes in Srinagar.
Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) Cadets Training Academy is also operating here for long.

There are many schools affiliated to CBSE, CISCE and UBSE Boards in the town which provide a versatile education system for all-round development.

The literacy rate of Srinagar city is 92.03% higher than the state average of 78.82%. In Srinagar, Male literacy is around 94.22% while the female literacy rate is 89.51%

Healthcare
Srinagar has a medical college (better known as Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Govt. Medical College) established in 2008. It was the first medical college established by the state government.  It has a 450-bed super-speciality hospital. Srinagar has another government hospital called Combined Hospital. There are a few private nursing homes and clinics. However, there is gross shortage of teaching faculty.

Transport

Air
The nearest airport is the Jolly Grant Airport, Dehradun  away.

Railway
The nearest railway stations are at Rishikesh and Kotdwar. However, Rishikesh is a small railway station not connected by fast trains. Kotdwara is connected by only a few trains.  Haridwar railway junction, 24  km farther from Rishikesh, has train connections to most of the major cities in India and is, therefore, the railhead for Srinagar. It has been planned to lay a railway line from Rishikesh to Karnaprayag via Srinagar but the project may take over a decade to complete if the slow progress of Kashmir railway project is taken as an indicator.

Road
Srinagar lies on the national highway NH58 that connects Delhi with Badrinath and Mana Pass in Uttarakhand near Indo-Tibet border. Therefore all the buses and vehicles that carry pilgrims from New Delhi to Badrinath via Haridwar and Rishikesh in pilgrim season of summer months pass through Srinagar on the way to Rudraprayag, Karnaprayag, Chamoli, Joshimath and further north. Rishikesh is the major starting point for road journey to Srinagar. Regular buses operate from Rishikesh bus station to Srinagar. The road distance from Srinagar to Rishikesh is  via Devprayag.

 Haridwar to Rishikesh    24 km
 Rishikesh to Devprayag    71 km
 Devprayag to Srinagar     32 km
 Srinagar to Rudraprayag  33 km
 Devprayag to Sabdharkhal 18 km
 Sabdharkhal to Pauri       23 km

Srinagar is also accessible from Pauri that, in turn, is reached from Kotdwar by national highway NH119. The road distance from Kotdwara railway station is  via Pauri.

Temples
Srinagar is the last night stop towards the holy Hindu temples of "Badrinath" and "Kedarnath". Srinagar also has its own share of temples.

 Kamleshwar Mahadev—Kamleshwar is the most popular temple in the town. The temple is about 150 m from the national highway toward the river Alaknanda near SGRR public school. 
 Kilkileshwar Mahadev is a Shiva temple located in the banks of river Alaknanda, Kilkileshwar Mahadev was established by Adi Shankaracharya. It is situated in Chauras (Tehri Garhwal district).
 Shankaramath temple located near lower Bhaktiyana is dedicated to Lord Vishnu.
 Chopra Mandir located near Koteshwar Dam is dedicated to Chopra Narsingh and Bhairon Nath. 
 Dhari Devi temple is 16 km from Srinagar.
 Rajrajeshwari and Gaura Devi temple is 19 km from Srinagar near village Devalgarh.
 Astavakra Mahadev is a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva and is situated on the southern hill of Srinagar. This is near village Khola about 9 km (by road) from Srinagar.
There are various other temples dedicated to lord shiva – Alkeshwar Mahadev, Nageshwar Mahadev, Ghashiya Mahadev.

The Uttarakhand culture has gifted with many popular religious places. There are many temples in Uttarakhand that have been beautifully and tastefully crafted and have ever since remained the talk of the town. While some owe their fame to their elegant structures, many have found glory by being wish-fulfillers. However, there are indeed few places that are known for surviving through a period of demolition and there are still a few remain special for the devotees for no reasons other than faith. There is a known temple ‘Chopra Mandir’, established by Late Shri Bachan Singh & his brother Late Shri Gulab Singh. The temple of Goddess Narshing & Bhairav Nath. Every year the whole family of late Shri Bachan Singh & late Shri Gulab Singh's organize pooja in this temple.
Written by Rakesh Kumar

References

External links

 Images from Srinagar and Nearby Places
 Srinagar Garhwal, Uttarakhand Himalayas
 Srinagar campus of HNBGU

Category:Former capital cities in India
Category:Cities and towns in Pauri Garhwal district