Rānikhet, India

History

Ranikhet, which means Queen's Meadow in Kumaoni, gets its name from a local legend, which states that it was here, that Raja Sudhardev, a Katyuri ruler, won the heart of his queen, Rani Padmini, who subsequently chose the area for her residence, giving it the name, Ranikhet, though no palace exists in the area.

Ranikhet had been under Nepalese rule after the Nepalese invasion of Kumaon and Doti in 1790, and the Kumaonis won it under the leadership of their able General Kashi Nath Adhikari – after whom the small town of Kashipur was named (which at one point of time was the gateway to the hills and is now an educational and institutional hub) – with the help of British at around 1816 and is a part of India now.

After the conquest of Almora on 3 May 1815, when Kumaon had been handed over to the British by the Gorkhas, the soldiers and officers of the British army started to live in Hawalbagh. It continued till 1839, when the army offices were shifted to Almora Cantonment and the troops were stationed at Lohaghat and Pithoragarh so as to enable them to effectively monitor the Indo-Nepal Border. However, a local rebellion in 1846 resulted in the removal of military camp from Lohaghat and the troops were transferred back to Hawalbagh where they remained stationed until the establishment of another permanent Cantonment at Ranikhet.

From the History section of Ranikhet on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.