Garh The Tourism

History-

Garhmukteshwar derives its name from the great temple of Mukteshwar Mahadeva, dedicated to the goddess Ganga who is worshipped there in four temples, two situated on a high cliff and two below it. The town has 80 Sati Pillars, marking the spots where Hindu widows are said to have committed sati. The town also has a mosque, built by Gays-ud-din Balban, that bears an inscription in Arabic dating to 1283 A.D.^{[citation needed]}
Garh Mukteshwar was part of Teerthwal Taga (Kaushik Tyagi) area who has a Sati Temple near Sanskrit Pathshala. The Teerthwal Tyagi were the owners of this tirth and therefore they were called Teerthwal having possession of Garh Mukteshwar, Tigri and 12 adjoining villages. Teerthwal Taga were originally Kaushik brahman from Pehrawar, near Bhiwani in Haryana, and set up the village Tigri along with the city of Gana Mukteshwar.
At Talawdi there was a war between Muhammad Ghori and Prithvi Raj. One Jat warrior Sanjeev Bhandari from Garhwal clan became General of the Army of Malkhan. Malkhan had become popular due to support of Puran Singh.
When Sanjeev Bhandari Garhwals lost Garhmukteshwar, they came to Rajasthan and occupied Ker, Bhatiwar, Chhawsari etc. near Jhunjhunu in the 13th century. As per their bards when these people came to this place, Johiya, Mohiya Rajputs were the rulers of this area. Bhats have mentioned them as Tomars. When Muslim influence increased in this area they had wars with them as a result they moved from here to there. One of these groups moved to Kuloth, which was ruled by Chauhans. After a war they occupied Kuloth. Sardar Kurdaram who was a descendant of Garhwals of Kuloth had been tehsildar of Nawalgarh.
At pre independence time it was under Meerut district area and Meerut has only two Tehsils one of them was Meerut Sadar Tehsil whereas otherwas Hapur Tehsil. Mahatma Gandhi once makes committee to silently capture Meerut Collector seat and Hapur Tehsil seat and makes Shri Chaudhary Raghuveer Narayan Tyagi (King of Asaurah Estate)as Collector and Atar singh as Tehsildar of Hapur tehsil. But the British force arrested all of them just before two days.

Garmukteshwar The Ganga Fair

( A Festival of Faith,Tradition and Sign Of Trust )

Standing on a high cliff on the right bank of the Ganga a short distance from its junction with the Burhganga, the town lies in Lat. 28⁰ 47' North and Long. 78⁰ 6' East, 65 kms. east of the district head quarter and 32 kms east of Hapur. About 2 kms west of the town the metalled road coming from Meerut meets the national highway which comes from Delhi via Hapur (and goes on to Moradabad crossing the Ganga at Garhmukteshwar by means of the bridge built in 1961). There is a railway station at Garhmukteshwar on the Delhi- Moradabad line of the Northern Railway. Garhmukteshwar is aplace of hoary antiquity, mention being made of it in the Bhagvat Purana and the Mahabharata. It is said that it was a part of the ancient city of Hastinapur (the capital of the Kauravas). There was an ancient fort here which was repaired by a Maratha leader named Mir Bhawan and was in so good a condition when the british took possession of the place that it was found possible to locate the tahsil in it without incurring much expence on alteration. The name of the place is derived from the great temple of Mukteshwar Mahadeva, dedicated to the goddess Ganga who is worshipped here in four temples, two suitated on a high cliff and two blow it. The one close to the Meerut road has a well , the water of which is belived to be so sacred as to cleanse the since of those who bathe with it; near it are eighty sati pillars, marking the spots where Hindu widows are said to have become sati. There is in the town a mosque buikt by Ghayas-ud-din Balban bearing an inscription in Arabic with the date 682 Hijri (1283A.D.). The place has considerable religious importance of the Hindus, a bathing fair being held here on the full-moon day of Kartika when about six lakh persons, from far and near , come to have a dip in the river Ganga which they consider to be holy. Another fair, held (in Jyaistha) on the ocassion of Dasahra, attracts about one 50,000 persons. On 26th January 1977, Garhmukteshwar becomes tahsil under district Ghaziabad and on 11th September 1979 Ghaziabad Zila Parishad constituted. Till then this historical Garh Ganga Fair is continousely sponsered by Zila Parishad. At the time of Fair the entire region becomes a city of tents. It facinate a lot the people in the light of moon. Gadho-ka-Mela is also a part of this big Garh Ganga fair, in which about 50,000 Ass/Donkey/Horse are purchase and sold out. The business man from all over the country even neighbouring countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh also take part in this Gadho-ka- Mela.