Nainital

Nainital, the “Lake District” of Kumaon, is a 19th-century hill station whose history is rooted in both mythology and the British Raj. The town’s name comes from Naini (eye) + tal (lake), linked to the Shakti Peeth legend that the eye of Goddess Sati fell here, creating the emerald, eye-shaped Naini Lake and the cult of Naina Devi at its northern shore.

Politically, Kumaon came under British rule after the Anglo-Nepalese War (1814–16), but Nainital itself was founded only in 1841, when a British sugar trader, P. Barron, built the first European house (Pilgrim Lodge) by the lake. It soon grew into a popular hill station and later the summer capital of the United Provinces, dotted with churches, schools and colonial cottages.

Rapid growth brought tragedy: on 18 September 1880, a massive landslip at the lake’s north end killed about 151 people, destroyed buildings including the old Naina Devi temple, and led to strict drainage and building controls.

After Independence, Nainital became district HQ and today serves as the judicial capital of Uttarakhand, while remaining one of India’s classic colonial hill resorts wrapped around its iconic lake.