BADRINATH AND KEDARNATH - A MUST VISIT IN ONE'S LIFETIME!

BADRINATH AND KEDARNATH

       

       Successful 5^th time site-seeing in Delhi “Oh no!!!” This was our comment when my dad planned our next summer trip . But we obliged to his idea when he disclosed that it was only a warm-up like thing, and our real summer trip would start only after that to the cool­-cool Uttarakhand! A pilgrimage to “Kedarnath and Badrinath”.

       Moving straight to Haridwar. Starting from Karol Bagh , a little late than evening, our Panicker’s Travel Bus was full with pilgrims (or rather tourists) of all age groups, beaming with the joy of getting ready for an adventurous journey. The tour operator had sent alongwith us a crew of 2 drivers, 3 cooks, 2 helpers and a guide.

       HARIDWAR is approximately 225 km from Delhi and it takes nearly 3-4 hours to reach. After reaching there the next early morning, we checked in to our rooms in the lodge booked for us there, had a warmup and were just ready to move out. Starting at around 9.00 am, we first had our breakfast comprising idli, pongal and vadai served with hot sambar and chutney. A wonderful coffee (or tea) thereafter.

       First, was the holy dip in Ganga river. What else do we need in our life when we are so fortunate to take bath in this holy river for the fourth time in our life? I cannot find words to express my inner feelings and the vibration which I felt when I bathed in the gushing waters of Ganga Matha!

       We first went to the spot where the cable car to the hilltop Mansadevi temple starts. There was a huge crowd and after waiting for nearly ½ an hour, we got into the ropecar and while travelling uphill, had a spectacular view of the city. The flowing Ganga river, bridges at proper intervals, the pilgrims taking bath, the worships and offerings on the river banks, the enormous crowd wandering here and there are a feast for the eyes.
                                    

       Mata Mansa Devi temple at the hilltop is a place bubbling with divinity. A good darshan of the Goddess whose eyes brim with compassion towards her devotees is a must-see for all Hindus. Lot of shops have come around the temple offering puja items, many eateries, gift items featuring the charm of the Goddess engages us in a pleasant timepass.

       After coming down, we just wandered through the shops on the road. Had a chill lassi! Haridwar is a place where the river Ganga is sandwiched by temples on both sides. So, no dearth of temples to visit! After a wonderful lunch, a typical south Indian food with sambar, rasam, poriyal,kootu,buttermilk with ghee and pickle , again a stroll along the river banks was a delight one has to experience!

       The evening was gearing up for the biggest event of the day: “Ganga Aarti”. It takes place at the Har-ki-pauri ghat. All pilgrims start sitting on the banks of this ghat, from 3.00pm itself occupying very convenient seating positions to witness it in proximity. By 6.00 pm the traffic in the city comes to a standstill and almost the entire tourist population gather here.

       The idol of Ganga Matha is brought in a small portable pillared mantap to the ghat, and various pujas are conducted. By 7.00p.m. exactly, the Ganga Aarti song sung by Anuradha Paudwal “Jai Gange Matha” fills the air. Big lamps with multiple tapering steps are lighted and they are waved by the Priests from left to right, from right to left and so on. Nearly 10­­-12 lamps are lighted in the same way at the sametime, and the screaming of the pilgrims “Ganga Matha Ki Jai” electrifies the atmosphere. Innumerable floats with flowers, lamps, and other offerings are offered to the River Goddess illuminating the water flow. God! This is one ceremony which I want to participate many a number of times during my lifetime!

       That evening was special as it happened to be “Akshaya Trithiya”, the day when all the CharDham temples reopen after closing for winter. So,all our minds were excited with this fabulous beginning of our Do Dham Yatra to Kedarnath and Badrinath from the next morning.

KEDARNATH SHRINE

       Kedarnath is nearly 250 km from Haridwar. Since Haridwar is a valley, the road to Kedarnath starts as a ghat road, with the river Ganga travelling with us throughout. The journey marks the commencement of the thrill, with hairpin bends and cliffroads with the Ganges view beneath at a very deep gorge sometimes. The route passes through many sacred and historical towns, a few of them to be mentioned.

There are five important holy river confluences enroute. They are:

•  Devprayag 
• Rudraprayag
• Karnaprayag 
• Nandprayag 
• Vishnuprayag

  Devprayag: is the place where rivers Alaknanda and Bhagirathi merge and this is where the river gets the name “GANGA”. The word “Prayag” denotes confluence of rivers and hence the name. Alaknanda originates at Badrinath whereas Bhagirathi ‘s origin is at Gangotri (The origin of Ganga at Gaumukh).

 Rudraprayag: is the confluence of rivers Mandakini and Alaknanda. Here we got down the steps and few of our fellow travelers even took bath. All these rivers flow as a result of melting of glaciers in the upper Himalayas. As this is the beginning of the season, the water was terribly cold.

Nandprayag: After travelling another 30 km, we arrived at Nandprayag, again the confluence of Alaknanda and Nandakini river from the Nandadevi peak.

Karnaprayag: is the spot where Alaknanda merges with Pindar river from Pindari glacier. In all these places, temples have been constructed by various kings who ruled there .We did not have enough time to visit those temples, except the one at Rudraprayag.

       After a hectic travel, we reached Guptkashi, a temple where Lord Shiva is worshipped as Kashi Vishwanath. The Pandavas wanted to worship Lord Shiva after the battle at Kurukshethra, but Shiva did not want to look at them as they had killed a lot of innocent people in the war, even though it was for good. So he evaded them and escaped. But the Pandavas did not lose their heart and prayed here to get rid of their sins.

       This temple is meant for prayers to get rid of our sins which we have committed in our life, knowingly or unknowingly. All of us performed the Parihara Pooja there. Since we confidentially disclose our sins to Kashi Vishwanath here, the place came to be called as Guptkashi. A temple, really worth-seeing!

       Then, we finally arrived at Sitapur, the halt for the night. This small town mainly meant for the stay of the pilgrims, is 7 km from Gaurikund (basecamp), from where the uphill trekking to Kedarnath shrine begins. It will not be fair if I don’t thank the people who cooked and served us through the entire journey.Special thanks to Mr.Kumar and Mr.Swaminathan who cooked for us.

       Next day morning, we all started off at 6.00 am after the coffee. As per the instructions given the previous night, we all had worn jerkins woolen caps, handgloves, shoes and socks apart from our warm woolen winter wear. Such will be the cold, it seems! Our bus reached Gaurikund in just 10 minutes and we walked through a very crowded bazaar where hundreds of ponies and their mascots were present. This is their main source of income during pilgrimage season and they keep on persuading us to engage their ponies for trekking. But our organizers had made meticulous arrangements and took us near an iron bridge, from where our actual uphill journey starts.

       All negotiations were already over and the cost of hiring pony has to be borne by us only. All package tours make it clear to the tourists, that the package cost does not include hiring of the pony or doli. The costs are strictly uniform for everyone and for a pony, they charged Rs.1200 per person for which the pony takes us to the temple, wait there till we return and brings us back. We are also assisted by a person throughout.

       Alighting on the pony itself was a funny task! After having sat on its back, holding the small rope tied to its front, keeping our foot inside the rings on its sides and travelling on its back was somewhat different. When our guide told that the temple was 14 kms from the starting point, I was stunned if I could cope up with the pony ride.

       Anyway I consoled myself murmering Vadivelu’s comedy dialog, ”No! yenna aanalum seri…indha arasiyal aazhatha pakama naan vidamaten!”Another interesting fact about the pony travel is that, we have to bend forward when the upward inclination is steep, and move ourselves back stiffly when the pony steps down. Accordingly, the person who accompanied me, (his name was Anand) would shout AAGEY and PEECHEY respectively. Sometimes due to confusion I even did the other way round, and was embarrassed to see Anand laugh at me.

       But, I should say, the river flowing down the valley, high mountains in the surroundings, the villagers walking up and down the mountains with lots of loads on their back , the sight of snow cap in the neighbouring peaks, really captivate us and make us forget the strain we have as a result of this pony travel.

       We reached a place called Ramwada which is half way through. It is quite a big town like place where the horses take a break (alongwith us). We were already provided with our breakfast parcels, and it was so delicious to have it there. There were also restrooms. This break was absolutely necessary as the weather was dipping to sub zero.

       Even though we insisted that all of us should not be moved far off from each other during the trek, it was totally impossible as the speed of the ponies differ. Not only that, there were small water tanks enroute , for the ponies to quench their thirst. When they see the water, they tend to stop immediately. Sometimes, forgetfully, they (the ponies) even start walking in the reverse direction after drinking water.

       The recent development is that there are helicopters to take the pilgrims to the shrine. There is a helipad before Gaurikund. The sight of helicopters picking up and dropping them near the temple was also a delight to watch. After a steep climb, the temple complex was visible from a distance. Lot of shops and lodges had come up in the Kedarnath town to facilitate the pilgrims stay.

       We got down from our ponies at the place where all the ponies were standing. (Parking lot). Snow, snow, everywhere! The chill breeze freezes our body. All of us started slowly walking towards the temple. Some of us were brushing our palm, some holding the hands tight. Could not even open our mouth wide to speak. We were really astonished to see the locals there who carry on with their routine work braving this wild weather!

       We reached the temple entrance. As the temple was opened for the season only a couple of days before, there were lot of decorations with flowers .Due to the climate, they had not gone dry.

       I pinched myself when I saw the majestic tower of the temple to check if it was a dream or a reality to see this wonderful temple which I have been seeing only in picture post cards and photos?

       Kedarnath is one of the 12 Jyotirlingas in India. The holiest temple for Lord Shiva like Amarnath cave and Mount Kailash. After the Mahabharatha war, the Pandavas came here to pray Lord Shiva, and in Guptkashi, as said before Lord Shiva moved away not willing to see them. But Pandavas travelled further and reached this place to worship him. Lord Shiva transformed himself to a Bull and submerged into the ground. By the time the Pandavas reached this temple, only the hump of the Bull could be seen. So here, the Shivaling is in the form of the hump of a Bull. The Pandavas are believed to have done tapas here to pacify the God. Later, Adi Sankaracharya built this temple. This temple has also been glorified by the hymns of Nayanmars. Stone inscriptions in Tamil also could be seen in the temple walls.

       Apart from the “Swayambu” Lingam, there are idols of the 5 Pandavas, Lord Krishna, Nandi and Virabadra. Moving slowly around the main deity in the huge crowd, doing poojas and singing the praise of Lord, chanting mantras, all such activities mesmerize us and we didn’t feel like moving from the place. We had darshan a number of times and circumbulated the outer prahara .Around ½km from here, the Samadhi Sannidhi of Adi Sankaracharya is another temple that we must see. A very calm place!

       Overwhelmed with the darshan of Shri Kedarnath, we started our return journey. The climate became even colder and mist surrounded us throughout. The visibility was not even 2 metres, and I could not even see my fellow travelers. How the pony was walking, and the boys with just a sweater (not even gloves),their acclimatization with the weather conditions made me wonder!

       The journey takes nearly 4 hours uphill and the same time down. We could spend easily more than 2 hours in the temple premises even if it is crowded. So almost 10-12 hours trip altogether. A few of our friends who were professional trekkers also travelled the entire way by foot.

       Even though I could see a lot of elderly people, it is better to visit this temple when we are in sound health, as it is not only a pilgrimage, but a fantastic adventure to be experienced even at a young age!

JOSHIMATH

       We were greeted by snow clad mountains the next morning, when we started .Our next destination was Badrinath shrine. Enroute, Joshimath was another important pilgrimage spot. The journey continued upto Rudraprayag where we have to take another road to go to Badrinath, which passes through Joshimath, one of the 4 centres where Shri. Adi Sankaracharya had established mutts or ashrams. We reached Joshimath on 4 hours travel from Sitapur.

       It is a place with pristine beauty of nature in full swing. The zig-zag road with many hairpin bends, and river running through gorges, sandwiched by snow clad peaks offers a lovely and picturesque treat for camera lovers. A long walk through a steep downhill takes us to the Sankaracharya Ashram, with a Narasimha temple adjacent to it.

       There were houses on both sides of the road, where roses of all colours were in full bloom and in relatively large sizes. The Narasimha temple belonged to the 8th century, with idols of many other Gods like Vasudeva, Sridevi, Bhoodevi, Kubera and so on. We had a very nice time in the temple. There was an open space inside the compound, overlooking the high peaks, where we could, sit, relax, take photos and even lie down to take rest.

       Between Joshimath and Auli, runs a ropeway cable car, for about 4 km, the longest in Asia .Auli is famous for the winter sports like skiing as in Gulmarg in Kashmir. .Joshimath also has the significance of being the starting point at a place called Govindghat for trekking for Valley of Flowers and Hemkund Sahib (a Sikh pilgrimage centre).

       There is an entrypoint gate at Joshimath which allows all vehicles only upto 4.30pm, beyond which no one is allowed driving on theroad to Badrinath. The road being very dangerous, is not advisable to drive after dusk.

       We waited for some time for the gate to open and then drove straight to Badrinath. Unlike Kedarnath, here the buses reach the town of Badrinath, and no trekking. We left for the Badrinath temple, at once we checked in to the hotel.

BADRINATH SHRINE

      

       The Badrinath temple, one of the 108 divya desams is a very important and holy pilgrimage centre for Hindus. It is the abode of Lord Vishnu. The temple could be reached by crossing the bridge constructed on the Alaknanda river whose origin is in a few kilometers from here. The colourful “Singh Dwar” welcomes us into the temple. There are 3 portions in the temple. The sanctum sanctorum with the deities, the Darshan hall for rituals and ceremonies, and Shoba Hall for pilgrims to assemble.

       The main Deity is a 1 metre tall Vishnu idol, made of Saligrama with his consorts, Sridevi, Bhoodevi and a number of other idols are also seen. They comprise Lord Shiva, Parvati, Ganesha, Kubera, Garuda, Anjaneya and so on. Words cannot describe the vibrations we experience when we are in the temple. 

Everywhere we here Narayana Mantras and the halls were full of pilgrims doing poojas. This temple was also built by Adi Sankaracharya, but due to frequent avalanches, the temple Gopura had to be renovated at various regimes like Chera, Chola and Pandya kings. Even today, the inner gopura is in the typical South Indian style. There is “Brahma Kapal” here where rituals for our ancestors could be performed. Those who wish to perform such rituals could even combine it with their Gaya and Varanasi visits.

       Both Kedarnath and Badrinath temples have some similarities.

(1) Both the temples are more than 1000 years old.

(2) Both have been visited and constructed by Adi Sankaracharya.

(3) There are hotwater springs in both the temples, where pilgrims can take bath. In Kedarnath, it is the GAURIKUND, and in Badrinath, it is the TAPT KUND.

(4) We can see the confluence of Alaknanda and Mandakini at Rudraprayag, enroute Kedarnath. Rudra, symbolifying Lord Shiva. The confluence of Alaknanda and Dhauliganga can be seen at Vishnuprayag, enroute Badrinath. Vishnu symbolifying Lord Vishnu.

(5) Both the shrines remain open only for 6 months and the remaining half of the year the idol of lord Vishnu from Badrinath is brought to Ukhimath and the Shiva idol from Kedarnath is brought to Pandukeshwar.

       

Badrinath shrine offers a spectacular view as it is cradled between the Nar and Narayanan peaks, and with the marvellous Neelkant peak as the backdrop.The early morning sunrise throws light on these snow clad peaks, turning their summit to golden colour which one should never miss to see atleast once in their lifetime.

MANA GAON

       Mana Gaon is just 3 km from Badrinath. The next morning we travelled to Mana. The route was so scenic as though we were traversing through Ladakh! Mana Gaon has many facts which makes it unique and significant.

       First of all, we visited the Vyasa cave where Sage Vyasa had dictated the Mahabharata epic in full. There is an idol depicting the Sage here, with many other small idols. A priest is here and he does the puja. There are petrified layers on the outer wall of the cave, which according to the pilgrims beliefs, are some pages of the great epic. We also drank tea at the shop which is the last tea shop in India. Yes, because Mana was the last village on the Indian side at the Indo-China border in that location.

       Then, we climbed a hill to reach the Ganesh Gufa, where there is the idol of Lord Ganesha, who is said to have written the Mahabharata as told by Vyasa. Then, climbing more on the steep hill brought us to a huge rock, through whose gap, River Saraswati emerges. It was a wonderful sight!The Saraswati river starts from this rock cave, flows for about a km, then merges with Alaknanda and cannot be sighted throughout. She is believed to be the invisible third river at Allahabad, where the Triveni Sangam depicts the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers.

       Such is the glorious sanctity of this place. When Draupadi and Bhima came to this place, Draupadi could not cross river Saraswati and Bhima constructed a small bridge to enable her cross. This place is still called Bhim Pul here. We came to know that there is a waterfall by name Vasudhara Falls , at about 4 kms from here, but we could not go there owing to time constraint.

       After our breakfast, we started our return journey to Delhi. The return journey was marked by a lot of chat, dance and game shows in the bus. If our onward journey had excitement, curiosity and adventure in our minds, our return journey was full of satisfaction, devotion and anxious moments of parting with each other.

       We reached RISHIKESH, in the evening and took rest. The next morning, the bath in Ganga river, walking through the Laxman Jhoola, visiting a number of temples on the river banks, Swarag Ashram, and purchase of mementoes for our friends back home everything went on in a smooth and enjoyable way.

       The same evening, we reached Karol Bagh and it was time to say goodbye.But I personally felt a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction when this tour ended.

       We performed Samaradhanai at home for Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu after our return and distributed prasadams to all.I am sure this pilgrimage was the most memorable one for me among all my trips,and by the grace of God, sometime later I wish to visit them again.

KEDARNATH KI JAI! BADRI VISHAL KI JAI!