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THE LAND AND PEOPLE OF KUMAON -

The area consisting of three hill districts of Almora, Nainital and
Pithoragarh is known as Kumaon and its inhabitants as
Kumaonese. Sanskrit poets have unceasingly sung about the
beauties which nature has bestowed on this part of the country.
It was probably this reason which inspired eminent Indians like
Swami Vivekanand, Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi,
Subhash Chandra Bose and Jawaharlal Nehru to visit Kumaon
and meditate there on the problems of life space and divine.
People
This fairyland of fact and fables is peopled by short statured,
tough, sturdy, honest and intelligent people who are known to
the outsiders as 'Pahari* but the appropriate word for them is
Kumaoni since former is a vague term to describe any class of
people. Ancient texts have made numerous references about
people inhabiting this land. Kumaon was known as Kinnerdesh
which extended from Nari Khorsem (western Tibet) to Tarai
Bhabar in the south and from Garhwal in the east to Nepal in
the west. It was inhabited by Yaksas, Kinnar, Guhyas and
Khas. Khas people have been indentified with the early Aryan
settlers since their counterparts have been found in other parts of