Vedic era

The area now made up by Uttarkashi district has been known since the times of the Rig Vedic period. The Aitareya Brahmana mentions it as the land where the Devas performed ritual sacrifices, and the Kaushitaki Brahmana mentions this area was where Vedic Sanskrit had changed the least. In the Upayana Parva of the Mahabharata, various hill tribes from the hill and mountain region of what is now Garhwal are mentioned as giving gifts to Yudhishthira during his Rajasuya yagna, including the Taganas, Kiratas and Kunindas. Ptolemy mentions the Taganas as the Taganoi and says they lived on the eastern side of the Ganges, while he says the Kulindrine (Kunindas) lived above the sources of the Beas, Sutlej, Yamuna and Ganga, and the Kiratas on the northern slops of the Himalayas. According to legend, Parshurama killed his mother Renuka at Nakuri, 10 km from Uttarkashi town. Also, it is said the Pandavas, after leaving their kingdom to Parikshit, halted at Patangini before continuing to Swargarohini, where they died.^[2]

Medieval era

Historically, the region might have been a part of the Mauryan empire, but this is unknown. It is presumed to have been a part of the Kushan empire, which extended through the western and central Himalayas as far as Tibet. In the 1st century CE, Rajapala of Badrinath established a kingdom that may have extended to Uttarkashi. A 5th century CE inscription in the Uttarkashi Vishwanath temple mentions a prince called Ganeshwara whose son had commissioned the inscription to honour himself and his father. The city of Uttarkashi is mentioned as Brahmapura by Xuanzang, who notes it was ruled by queens. In the 7th century, a branch of the Katyuris pushed out the descendants of Rajapala of Badrinath to the position of feudatories and established an empire covering what is now Kumaon and Garhwal. The last descendant of Rajapala was Bhanupratapa, the pre-eminent chief among the 52 rulers called garhpals (fort holders, from where Garhwal derives its name). Bhanupratapa had two daughters, one of whom he married to a Paramara prince from Malwa, Kanak Pal, who was on pilgrimage. Kanak Pal was made his heir, and ascended the throne in 888 CE. Kanakpal and his descendants began establishing their hegemony over the other petty chiefs, some of whom had headquarters in Uttarkashi, as the power of their Katyuri overlords declined.^[2]

Up to the first half of the 11th century, nothing is known about the first 10 rulers of the Garhwal kingdom. They were probably feudatories of the Katyuris who ruled over parts of Uttarkashi. By the time of the end of the 11th century, when the Katyuri hegemony collapsed, the family of Kanakpal were regarded as the most pre-eminent of the 52 traditional garhpals. Near the end of the 12th century, Ashoka Challa of the Khasa kingdom (now in western Nepal) conquered Garhwal as far as Uttarkashi, evidenced by an inscription in the Barahat (Uttarkashi) Vishwanath temple. However the Garhwal rajas soon regained their position, and again the last king of the line had only a daughter. Another Paramara prince from Malwa there on pilgrimage, Kadilpal, was made his heir and married his daughter, although it is unknown whether this story is merely apocryphal.^[2]

His descendant, Ajapal, lived during 1358-70 and was attacked by the raja of Champawat, but defeated him. Ajapal also seemingly created an alliance of the many chieftains of Garhwal and overthrew the raja of Chandpur. His descendant Rajapal led an unsuccessful expedition against Tibet that probably passed through modern Uttarkashi district. The Garhwal rajas, although friendly with the Delhi sultanate in the plains, were never subordinate to them. Rajapal's descendant Man Shah led raids north into Tibet and south into the plains in the mid 16th century. His descendants defended against the rising power of the Kumaon kingdom, which was encroaching on Garhwal's eastern boundaries, but Uttarkashi was not affected. Mahipati Shah was the first Garhwal Raja to fully control the entirety of Kumaon, including all of Uttarkashi, from his capital at Srinagar in around 1580.^[2]

The Garhwal Rajas, although not directly controlled by the Mughals, still had to pay tribute. The historian Firishta records Garhwal (modern scholars believe he confused it with Kumaon) was a wealthy and powerful mountain kingdom that produced significant amounts of copper and gold, both metals mined from ancient times in Uttarkashi district. In 1635, a famine struck Garhwal and the year after, a Mughal force invaded the region. However the raja soon starved out the Mughals and forced them to retreat, while another Mughal expedition in 1654 aided by the raja of Kumaon failed also. After Dara Shukoh's defeat in 1658, his son Sulaiman took refuge for a year with the Garhwal raja Prithvi Shah. However threat of invasion from Aurangzeb and the Kumaon rajas, as well as pressure from many in his court forced Shah to give up Sulaiman to Aurangzeb. Uttarkashi remained relatively uninfluenced by the subsequent border wars between Kumaon and Garhwal.^[2]

Garhwal and Kumaon fought against the Rohillas in 1745, but were defeated and Garhwal was forced to pay 3 lakhs as tribute. After this, Garhwal was devastated by a Rohilla invasion in 1757.^[2]

Modern era