OLD HOUSE ARCHITECTURE OF DEHRADUN UTTRAKHAND
Dehradun had been a part of the Garhwal Kingdom except for the brief interlude of the Rohillas. The city is believed to have been named after the camp, or dera, established by Baba Ram Rai, elder son of the seventh Sikh Guru, Guru Har Rai, who came here in 1675. He settled in the village Dhamawala, which even today hosts the annual Jhanda Mela on the fifth day after Holi in his memory. Thus the name refers to his 'dera' or camp in the 'Doon' valley, around which the present town gradually developed,and marking this settlement is a gurudwara called Guru Ram Rai Darbar Sahib, built between 1699 and 1707 with the help of Raja of Garhwal, Fateh Shah, who was succeeded by his grandson in the same year, Pratap Shah, and modelled on the tomb of Mughal Emperor Jehangir.
Historically, Dehradun was a part of the Garhwal Kingdom also known as 'Kedarkhand', which was founded by Ajai Pal around 1400, by capturing all the minor principalities of the Garhwal region, under his own sway, and thereafter, he and his descendants ruled over Garhwal and the adjacent state of Tehri-Garhwal, in an uninterrupted line till 1803, when the Gurkhas invaded Kumaon and Garhwal.In 1757, Najib-ul-Daula, the governor of Saharanpur, who later founded city of Najibabad, invaded the city with his army of Rohillas and ruled here, leading to its widespread development. He provided them with land, fostered trade, dug canals, sank wells and raised the revenue to a lakh and a quarter of rupees though after his death in 1770, it was successively annexed by surrounding tribes of Rajputs, Gujjars, Sikhs and Gurkhas who ruled the region in quick succession, and lead to its steady downfall.
