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.