Garhwal lying in the north -west of Uttaranchal comprises of the 5 districts of Dehradun, Pauri, Tehri, Uttarkashi and Chamoli.

The archaeological remains lying scatterd at many places reveal that a rich civilization flourished here from very early times. The mahabharata gives vivid accounts of the land and its people.

Emperor Ashoka's domain encompassed a part of the terrain , evidence of which is "chitrashila" or "chhatrashila", a quartz rock bnearing his edicts, dicoverd near kalsi.

Hieun tsang, the 7th century chyinese pilgrim traversed a part of the garhwal and adi shankaracharya, the 8th century hindu saint and reformer, visited the remotest regions and to him we owe the establishment of some of the most sacred shrines of garhwal.