Difference between Garhwal and Kumaon

The major difference between Garhwal and Kumaon are the hills, which means the places of their origin. Kumaon consists of six districts with Nainital as zonal headquarters, while Garhwal consists of seven with Pauri Garhwal as headquarters. Dehradun, the capital of Uttarakhand ( earlier known as Uttaranchal), is part of Garhwal, which with 41 constituencies is larger than Kumaon with 29. Yet it is Kumaoni leaders who have mostly dominated politics here, even before Uttarakhand became a state.

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 It is Garhwal that has the prominent religious sites — Haridwar and Rishikesh, besides the Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath dhams. On the other hand, the Kumaon region consists of beautiful destinations like Nainital, Almora, Haldwani and Ranikhet. Now if we look at the rivers, Garhwal has the big ones - both Ganga and Yamuna, while the major ones in Kumaon are Kali nadi, Gori ganga, Saryu and Ramganga.

Another major difference lies in the dialects spoken by the people of these two regions. The people of Kumaon speak Kumaoni, while that of Garhwal speak Garhwali. Differences also lies in some of the food cuisines of these two regions.

The women in the Kumaon region wear a costume known as the rangwali pichhora, during special occasions, whereas the Garhwal region has no such tradition.

Also Read :: Traditional Costumes of Sikkim