Uttarakhand’s name is derived from the Sanskrit words uttara (उत्तर) meaning ‘north’, and khaṇḍa (खण्ड) meaning ‘land’, altogether simply meaning ‘Northern Land’. The name finds mention in early Hindu scriptures as the combined region of “Kedarkhand” (present day Garhwal) and “Manaskhand” (present day Kumaon). Uttarakhand was also the ancient Puranic term for the central stretch of the Indian Himalayas.[33]
However, the region was given the name Uttaranchal by the Bharatiya Janata Party led union government and Uttarakhand state government when they started a new round of state reorganisation in 1998
