Location & Description
Garbyang village at an altitude of 3350 meter is located in Dharchula Tehsil of Pithoragarh district in Uttarakhand, India. It is situated 65 km away from sub-district headquarter Dharchula and 159 km away from district headquarter Pithoragarh. As per 2009 statistics, Garbyang is the gram panchayat of Garbyang village. The total geographical area of village is 580.99 hectares.
According to Census 2011, the location code or village code of Garbyang village is 049091. Garbyang has a total population of 426 peoples. There are about 192 houses in Garbyang village. As per 2019 statistics, the Garbyang village comes under Dharchula assembly and Almora parliamentary constituency.
In ancient times, Garbyang used to be a picturesque, flourishing village located in the lap of the Himalayas and the main centre of for Indo-Tibet trade.
Geographically placed at 10,990 ft above sea level, Garbyang was a famous Indo-Tibet business center for India. However, it has lost much of its glory due to closure of Indo-Tibetan border after Indo-china war in 1962. Garbyang was also called ‘chhota vilayat’ during those days.
Although the trade route was reopened in 1980’s, it could not regain its earlier glory as many villagers, which includes wealthy merchants had shifted their base to other nearby cities as houses were sinking due to geological catastrophic reasons and now it is known as the ‘sinking village’.
Garbyang is one of the rich cultured Himalayan villages having beautifully carved wooden doors and windows in all houses.
References
Uttarakhand village information on Garbyang
Compiled by Ms. Bani Baral, author of Kailash Manas Sarovar Yatra, looking back – Day 8 Journey from Budhi to Gunji
Map location is approximate