Katyuri Dynasty or Kartikapur
■ Around 675 CE, Brahmapur, the biggest Kingdom of the time in Uttarakhand, collapsed politicaly.
■ The whole area was in chaos and many small political powers emerged in the hill areas during this time.
■ Ultimatēly, à branch of ancient Kunindas became powerful and from 700 CE to around 1000 CE, succeeded in creating a large and powerful Kingdom spanning parts of Garhwal, Kumaun, and Nepal.
■ This Kingdom was known as Kartikeyapur or the Katyuri Kingdom.
■ They have the honour to be the first Kingdom that unified a large area in the Himalayas, left an indelible impact on the architecture of the area and many of its Kings entered from history into the realm of legend.
■ Dr. Yashwant Singh Katoch disputes that the Kartikeyapur Kingdom is the same as Katyuris.
■ He believes that Katyuris “are only stuff of legends and no actual such dynasty existed.
■ In one form or other, this family ruled certain areas of the state from the times of Mahabharata to the end of the 18th century.
■ We currently know of 9 inscriptions left by rules of this Kingdom and that show a succession of 3 ruling families over 300 years.
Three Families are :
■ Basant Dev
■ Nimbar Dev
■ Saloraditya
■ Ishtaganadeva of the second family Nimberdev united Kumaun and Garhwal into one political unit and his son Laliteshwardeva or Lalitshurdeva was a great builder.
■ Laliteshwardeva has left the maximum number of copper plate inscriptions among the rulers of this Kingdom. The last king of this Kingdom was Subhiksharajadeva.