The Pundir is a clan of Rajputs based in Uttarakhand and Western Uttar Pradesh.[1]
Their shakha is Koolwal and their Kuldevis are Shakumbhri Devi Saharanpur and Dhadimati Mata in Saharanpur and Rajasthan along with Punyakshini Devi in Garhwal.[citation needed]
Most of the Pundirs are today based mainly around the North Indian states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Uttarakhand.[citation needed]
The word itself is derived from the Sanskrit word "Purandara" (पुरन्दर) literally meaning "the destroyer of enemy" or "the destroyer of cities".[citation needed]
Pundirs were the most powerful military vassals of the Prithviraj Chauhan Empire of Delhi after the 10th century. Chandra Pundir, the ruler of Haridwar, was a great feudatory of Emperor Prithviraj Chauhan. Chandra Pundir, and grandson, Pavas Pundir sacrificed in the struggle with the Turks. After the defeat of Prithviraj Chauhan in the second battle of Tarain in AD 1192, the rule of the Turks was established in the country. Even so, the Pundir state remained in Haridwar for two centuries.
Eric Stokes noted that
In the Katha the Pundir Rajputs stood out as the dominant landholders, dwelling together as a formidable clan that had never been properly brought under close administration. A proud, hardy race ... they possessed a long history of turbulence. Significantly they had successfully warded off alien intrusion ... So formidable did they appear as adversaries before the recapture of Delhi at the end of September 1857 that the British left them severely alone, despite their attacks on Deoband town and in similar depredations.[2]