Dinaric Race in Ancient Garhwal-Kumaon (Uttarakhand )

History of Kumaon-Garhwal (Uttarakhand) - Part -10  

Ancient communities of Kumaon-Garhwal (Uttarakhand), Himalayas-6

Western Brachycephal Races of Uttarakhand -2  

                                       Bhishma Kukreti

  Dinaric (शक जाति ) people came to Uttarakhand after entry of Khas (Aplanoid) in Uttaranchal. The terms Dinaric comes from the Alps maintain Dinara the border of Bosnia, Croatia and Herzegovina (Balkan Peninsula). There are several theories about origin of Dinaric race. Gunthar and Coon claim that Bell -Beaker People of European Bronze Age were partially Dinaric. The characteristics of Dinaric people is described as very tall, mostly mesomorph bodily build, relatively long legs, short trunk , long arm span, head from brachycephalic to hyper brachycephalic. Dinaric race entered India though western part at various time and intervals.

               Patanjali described this race as Shak Yavan the inhabitants of Gabdik (Champba –Gaddi), Shaurya (Saunki valley of Kumaon) and Kraunch (Mana valley of Garhwal).

     The Dinaric women were very beautiful and the ancient writers claim that the beauty of Dinaric women was due to Dinaric race using garlic abundantly in their food (Bagbhatt- Ashtang Collection, Uttar,  A.49).  The historians marked them for ability with bow and arrow.

  Dinaric race was Sun God worshipper and the dress of Sun in their temples was as humans put on long skin robe and long boot in regions as Alps Europe. The Sun putting long robe or Sun with long boot in the Sun temples of Uttarakhand hint that Dinaric race was very much in Kashmir, Himachal and Uttarakhand.

                             Dr Dabral mentions the following Sun temples of Uttarakhand those are different than Aryan Sun temples and Sun is putting dress as of Dinaric Sun God. The old time Sun temples of Garhwal and Kumaon remind the influence of Dinaric race on Khas and Katyuri races of Uttarakhand.

   Place in Uttarakhand ----------------Patti -----------------------Deity Name

Katarmal -------------------------------Kumaon --------------------Sun with long boot

Belar (Bel) ------------------------------Gangoli ---------------------Adityaa

Prabhai (Bel) --------------------------Gangoli ------------------ Aditya

Ramak --------------------------------- (Mahar , Kali Kumaun) ----------Aditya

Naini ------------------------------------ ( Lakhanpur, Chaugarkha) --------------Aditya

Jageshwar -----------------------------------------------------------------------Adity

Joshimath -----------------------------------------------------------------------------Surya Narayan

 Before Dinaric race came to Mid Himalayas, the Khas or Alpanoid race was ruling the region and ultimately Dinaric race merged with Alpanoid race

References and Further Reading Suggestions:

Badri Datt Pandey, 1937, Kumaun ka Itihas, (second edition.) Shyam Prakashan, Almora (page 155-179)

Dabral, Shiv Prasad, 1968, Uttarakhand ka Itihas Bhag-2, (pages117 to321), Veer Gath Press, Dogadda, India

Dinesh Prasad Saklani, 1998, Ancient Communities of the Himalayas

D.D Sharma, 2009, Cultural History of Uttarakhand

Hari Krishna Raturi, 1921, Garhwal ka Itihas

Jagdish Bahadur , 2003 Indian Himalayas

Dr. Naval  Viyogi, Professor M A Ansari, 2010  History of the Later Harappans and Shilpkara Movement (two volumes) Kalpaz Publication, Delhi, India

H.K Barpujari, 1990, The Comprehensive History of Assam (page 11)

Bindeshwar Prasad Sinha, 1974 The Comprehensive History of Bihar (Page-70)

Fisher, William B., 2003, The Middle East and Africa 

S.N Sen, 1999, Ancient Indian History and Civilization

Carleton Stevens Coon, 1962, The Origin of Race

C.S. Coon, The Races of Europe

Copyright@ Bhishma Kukreti 10/4/2013

(The write up is for general readers and may not be properly suitable for history research scholars)

History of Garhwal –Kumaon (Uttarakhand) to be continued… Part -11

Ancient communities of Kumaon-Garhwal (Uttarakhand), Himalayas- to be continued…7

Western Brachycephal Races of Uttarakhand to be continued…3

Historical Notes on Dinaric Race in Ancient Uttarakhand; Dinaric Race in Ancient Haridwar, Garhwal, Uttarakhand; Dinaric Race in Ancient Dehradun, Garhwal, Uttarakhand; Dinaric Race in Ancient  Uttarkashi, Garhwal, Uttarakhand; Dinaric Race in Ancient Tihri Garhwal, Uttarakhand; Dinaric Race in Chamoli Ancient Garhwal, Uttarakhand; Dinaric Race in Ancient Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand; Dinaric Race in Ancient PitharuraGarh Kumaon, Uttarakhand; Dinaric Race in Ancient Almora Kumaon, Uttarakhand; Dinaric Race in Ancient Bageshwar Kumaon, Uttarakhand; Dinaric Race in Ancient Champawat Kumaon, Uttarakhand; Dinaric Race in Ancient Nainital, Kumaon, Uttarakhand; Dinaric Race in Ancient  Udham Singh Nagr Kumaon, Uttarakhand to be continued….