Hartola (India)
Hartola is a sleepy little hamlet located in the Nainital district in the state of Uttarakhand in India. True to its name, the charm of this village lies in its hidden accessibility from regular run-of-the-mill tourist radar. It borrows its name from two words in Hindi Devanagri script..'Har' + 'Tola'. 'Har' means Lord Shiva{a revered Hindu God}and 'tola' means the locale where one of a kind dwell. Thus, 'Hartola' denotes the locale where Lord Shiva dwelled. A quaint and ancient Shiva temple up in the mountain here lends credence to this meaning. The sound of bells from this temple at a distance, coupled with the chirping of mountain birds, is music to one's ears while the eyes feast on a panoramic view of the Himalayan peaks. The view from Hartola rivals the views from Mukhteshwar, a small mountain village that was developed with some infrastructure by the British. This is because Hartola, also atop a mountain ridge, has a closer view of the Indian and Nepal range of the Himalayas when compared with Mukhteshwar. Folklore has it that during the British period in India, a shepherd boy from Almora, who went grazing his cattle in the meadows in the mountains, accidentally discovered a picture-post-card perfect and serene hamlet that spread in a radius of barely six kilometers. While he set his cattle free to graze in the green meadows and took his afternoon siesta, the young shepherd boy witnessed the appearance of Lord Shiva in his dream. HISTORY: Kumaon region, which houses the district of Nainital, was under the rule of the Gorkhas before being overtaken by the Chand dynasty. The area of Hartola was owned by some members of the Rana dynasty, which ruled the Kingdom of Nepal from 1846 AD until 1951 AD. The name of the Queen who held Hartola as her estate was Rani Prem Pal. While relocating to Nepal, Rani Prem Pal 'gave away' this heavenly property to loyalists of her family who had helped her maintain the estate and the Shiva temple. What followed later was a legal battle in the High Court of Nainital between the descendants of the Queen, who was the 'owner', and the families who had received her estate. The 'gift' was upheld by the High Court as an instrument of exchange and the descendants of the victorious family now owns one of the most enviable Apple orchards, in terms of its flat setting on top of the mountain, facing the majestic Himalayas. From the centre of the 180 degrees, one can views the snow-clad Nandadevi and Trishul peaks. CULTIVATION & BEST TIME TO VISIT: Hartola is home to organic cultivation of Apple, Plum, Peach, Apricot and now also Walnut trees. It is worth visiting any time of the year, including winter, when snowfall paints this beautiful hamlet in pure white while snowflakes fall on a hint of Apple blossoms awaiting to appear as the snow melts away. The best time to visit here for a view of the peaks is September & October, but for fruit lovers the season is summer. July and August sees this hamlet lush green. Hartola sits at a geographical altitude of around 8345 ft, making it an ideal fruit-laden destination for prospective home-buyers, tourists, bird-watchers and orchard lovers. A new link road through village Lahauli will link Hartola to Almora and Ranikhet vide a shorter route than the present detour through Ramgarh. This route will turn this beautiful hamlet into a destination, which had in the past remained a poor cousin of Mukhteshwar- despite offering a more closer & thereby a more spectacular view of the Himalayan range. Situated at a distance of 54 kilometers from Nainital, nearby places around Hartola are Nathuakhan {10 Kms}and Ramgarh.[1] The village has a population of about 680. The village is adjoining Mukteshwar forest reserve, which has the largest population of Banjh (Himalayan oak) along with Burash, Deodaar trees and various Himalayan flora & fauna. Located at a distance of 342 Kms by road from Delhi, capital city of India, the nearest rail-head is Kathgodam(72Kms) from where a taxi takes two and a half hours to reach this hamlet. One drives through a forest reserve of Deodaar trees to land straight on the icing of the cake nestled in Himalayan wonderland. HARTOLA PIN CODE: 263158 POSTAL HEAD OFFICE AT: Narian Swamy Ashram.