Our Chardham Yaathra:
It all started as a casual chat outside the Kapali temple after our daily அர்த்தஜாமம் & பள்ளி அறை. As many of the regulars at Kapali temple have visited Kedharnath we have always wanted to go there once. Ramkumar jii was telling that he is planning to go to Kedhar and Badhri by October after நவராத்ரி and before the Diwali function. Some of us, first timers wanted to join him in his trip. By July, Ram decided on the dates and also booked his tickets. Many of them who initially wanted to join him opted out for various reasons. I was initially unsure because of office uncertainties. Before I could decide to join, Vignesh also booked the tickets to join. By mid-August, I also decided to join and booked my tickets as well.
10-Oct-2019 - Day 0:
As planned, we joined at the Chennai domestic airport by 10 PM on 10-Oct. After reaching Delhi, we had to take another flight to Dehradun. We reached Dehradun in AI flight by 8 AM.
Day 1 - 11-Oct-2019 - Kempty Falls:
After collecting our baggage, we started towards Yamunothri by 8:30 AM. Our cab driver had already arrived by then. After a drive of about 2 hours, we wanted to refresh and had a taken couple of hours break at “Aryana Restaurant and Home Stay” near Bhatta Falls, Mussoorie. I had my first taste of north Indian aaloo paratha, achaar and a cup of curd. But by then, I didn’t have a clue that aalu paratha and achaar would be my primary source of sustenance over the next 10 days. We enjoyed our brunch, had a brief nap and started again by 12:45. On the way, we had a brief stopover at Kempty Falls, Mussoorie. It was late afternoon and the water was
pretty cold even then. We spent about 30 mins there and again started towards Yamunothri.
It was Pradosham that day. So, Ram wanted to make sure we had a darshan of a Shiva temple. It happened all of a sudden by 4:15. We chanced upon a small temple at the riverside. Ram performed his மத்யானிக அனுஷ்டானம் there followed by his Shiva poojai. It was a scenic place with Yamunothri flowing in the valley. We had some shots in camera and started towards Yamunothri again. Ram actually planned for staying at Birla Aashram, near Yamunothri. But then, it was already late when we reached Barkot about 50 KMs before Yamunothri. We checked in Govt guest house, but it wasn’t available. We had to make couple of more stops at Barkot and settled at “Hotel Kanak Palace” for the night. It is at the function where we could take diversions to Yamunothri or Gangothri.
Day 2 – 12-Oct-2019 – Yamunothri Darshan:
We started from our room by 8:30 on 12-Oct towards Yamunothri and we were at Hanuman Chatti by 11 AM. We had to trek for about 7-8 KMs. Half way thru, we thought we are already falling back and so, opted for a horse ride. We had some nervous moment as the horse I was riding struggeled and slipped couple of times dropping me down. I understood that the horse owners sometimes have the habit of using 1 collie for 2 horses. This way they can save on the payment for a coolie. Later when we were travelling in horse back in Kedhar, the horse owner employed the same tactics. But then things were more organized in Kedhar. When the horse wala tried the same tactics in Kedhar, we were stopped by the police and until another horse wals was brought in, we were not allowed to proceed. The horse ride in Yamunothri was more unorganized and was the demand from the coolies wasn’t consistent and had to be directly paid to the coolies themselves. But in Kedhar, we had prepaid counters well before the place we started the ride and it was monitored by the local policemen. Back to the Yamunothri story, by the time we reached the temple, it was about 2 PM. First we had a dip at the तप्त पानी(the hot water pond, I understand it is natural hot water spring due to presence of Sulphur in water). Then we had darshan at the temple, including the main deity and couple of tanks one called Draupati kund. We started back by 3 PM or so from Yamunothri and reached the base at Hanuman Chatti by another horse. We paid Rs. 1000 for the trip back on horse back. We located the parking area and we reached back the hotel at Barkot by 9 PM. We had dinner at the hotel restaurant and closed for the day.
Between Akshya Thrithika in April and Diwali in October or November, the deities reside in Yamunothri. In the winter though, the deity in Yamunothri moves to Kharsali area due to severe snow and cold between November and April. This is the practive in other dhams too.
Day 3 – 13-Oct-2019 – Uttarkashi, Gangothri:
On 13-Oct, by 9 AM we vacated the hotel and started from Barkot towards the second Dham, Gangothri. Ram had planned stopover at Uttarkashi. Between Barkot and Uttarkashi, we had 2 tunnel ways being laid by dredging mountains. The first one is between Barkot and Dharasu on way to Uttarkashi. Detaisl of the
National_Highway_134 tunnel at the wiki location. This would reduce the distance between Yamunothri and Gangothri by about 20 Kms and travel time by an hour or more. We drove further and touched the NH 34, had brunch at Bartwal Bhojnalaya, “Dharasu - Barkot - Yamunotri Rd”, Patara, Uttarakhand. Spent 30 mins in there. By around1:30PM, we were at the Uttarkashi Viswanath temple.
To-Do: Ram's video Sthala Mahatmeeyam of Viswanathar temple of Uttarkashi to be added here.
We stared from Uttarkashi by around 2:30 and we headed to Gangothri. It was a scenic drive all along and we were going mostly uphill with Mandagni flowing in the valley. We reached Gangothri by around 5 and we settled down at hotel Manisha closer on way to Gangothri. After refreshing, we immediately started to the temple. The temple was pretty busy on that full-moon night with aarthi going on. We had darshan at the main deity, the homa kund opposite to that and started back to hotel. The night was pretty cold.
Note: Gomuki in Gangothri Glacier is the starting point of Ganges and it is at a distance of 18 KMs from Gangothri. We can trek to Gomuk. Probably should plan for a visit there if I could get to go another time.
Day 4 – 14-Oct-2019 - Gangothri, Travel towards Kedharnath:
The next day morning, we woke up by 5:30 AM and were at the temple at 7:30 for the Ganga Pooja. The water was almost freezing and cold and it was quite a task collecting water for the Pooja. We caught cold of a purohit, completed the Pooja by around 9 AM. Had a darshan of the main deity and home kund, went around there and went back to hotel. Note: Most of the water containers they sell at the shops around there leak with water filled from Gangothri. So, it would be a good idea to take some leak-proof water bottle or container if you are keen on bringing ganga jal from Gangothri. After finishing the darshan for the day, we started towards the 3rd Dham, the Kedharnath.
Day 5 - 15-Oct-2019 - Gaurikund, Munkh khatiya Ganpathy, Thriyug Narayan Mandhir:
By 8AM on Tuesday, we started from Gupthakashi hotel towards Kedharnath. There was HeliTaxi services provided from 3 or 4 places operated by private players, regulated by Govt. We thought we would take the helicopter ride from one of the 3 or 4 places on the way. One was available in Gupthakashi, just 10 KMs from the hotel, and 1 in Patha another 2-5 Kms further and 1 more in Sirsi, all costing from 3000 to 5000 Rs for a round trip. But due to bad weather, there were many cancellations and many of the pilgrims who had booked rides earlier were also stranded. I understood there are procedures to get refund, but that is complicated. But we were told that we still can get the rides if we are ready to pay a premium. So, if we are sure we want to go only by helicopter, we may have to shell more. By 10 AM we reached Sonprayag, base camp of Kedharnath. We had to take a local jeep to commute to Sonprayag and we had to walk to Gaurikund where the horse ride or Dholi was available. We had darshan at Gaurikund where Parvathi was in thapas for marring lord Shiva.
. After completing darshan at Gaurikund, we started walking towards Kedhar. We initially thought we would walk the 16 odd Kms to the Kedharnath temple. As we walked up, it was getting colder and we were also getting tired. So, we ended-up searching for 3 horse walas, but we couldn’t get any going up to the temple. After talking to some staff at “Hotel Shivalik Valley”, we decided to take help on booking for horse and start for Kedharnath only the next day. On way back to hotel, we went to Gaurikund, the place where Parvathi married lord Shiva. After that, we stopped over for darshan at Munkatiya. Here lord Ganesh has his head missing after lord Ganesha tries stopping Shiva from entering Parvathi’s adobe and Shiva cuts off his head. This was a pretty small temple in the hill and probably not much visited as well.
Day 6 – 16-Oct-2019 - Kedharnath Darshan:
We woke up by 4:30 and were taken to Gaurikund by jeep and we landed up in the prepaid counter. The staff from Shivalik who was accompanying us helped with booking the horse. It was Rs.2350 up and Rs.1500 down, pretty cheap compared to Yamunothri. We started climing by 6 AM and by 10 AM, we were at the dropping point about half a kilometer from the Kedharnath shrine. Apart from horse, we had also dholis which were carried by either 1 or 4 members. Those were allowed much closer to the shrine.
. Ram had elaborate plans for Pooja after getting hold of some prohits. We completed the Pooja by 1 PM. There is a bolder behind the temple, which supposedly saved Kedarnath temple from the 2013 cloud burst and floods. We could also see some agoris around in Kedharnath. After coming out, had some snaps around the temple and started back to base by 3 PM by the same horse wala that went up on. By 6PM, we were at Gaurikind the place we started. From three, we had to walk about a KM to Sonprayag and from there we had to take a jeep back to our hotel. It was about 8 PM by the time we were there at hotel and so, we luckily got a room available in Shivalik Valley and decided to stay there that night. Sthala Puranam: After the Kurukshetra war, the Pandavas were very rejected that they killed so many. After consulting Srikrishna, they were at penance at the Himalayas. Lord Shiva appeared in the form of a bull and Bhimasenan was chasing the bull after realizing that it is infact lord Shiva. The hump of the bull is what is considered the Shiva lingam at Kedharnath. Three are other 4 places where the other parts of the bull appeared and they are together called pancha-Kedhar. The limbs of the bull appearing in Tunganath, the nabhi (navel) and stomach surfacing in Madhyamaheshwar, the face showing up at Rudranath and the hair and the head appearing in Kalpeshwar. It is also a practice to visit pancha-Kedhar in one go like done for char-dham. Credit goes to Shri Adhisankaracharya to have discovered this place and established the temple. Note: Hotel Shivalik Valley was one place where we could get South Indian food and had a taste of Andhara meals after 5-6 days of living in roti and aaloo paratha. I understand that the tarrif for the hotel is much higher in May-June-July timeframe when the traffic to chardham is highest. Kedharnath darshan was the prime objective of our trip. Having done that, we very happily started towards the 4th dham.
Day 7 – 17-Oct-2019 – Gupthakashi, Urkhimath, Gopeshwar Darshan:
Sonprayag to Joshimath: https://goo.gl/maps/6LyigLadfK6Tmxra6
We vacated the hotel and started towards Badhrinath by morning. By 11 AM, we were at Gupthakashi Viswanath temple. This is around 30 Kms from Sitapur where we started from. This temple is also connected to Mahabharatha. After spending about an hour here, we started towards Urkhimuth. The Omkareshwarar temple in Urkimutt is the winter adobe of Lord Kedharnath. Also the Madyameshwar deity was would also be in the Urkhimuth temple during the winter and the deity from Madhyameshwar was already in there. We had a sannidhi for Bairavar in Urkhimath and also the 5 kedhar lingams were also in a sannidhi. Gupthakashi or Phata are the 2 of the places well connected by helicopter to Kedharnath. So, if you are planning to go by helicopter, it would be convenient to stay in one of these places.
By 4:30 PM we were at Gopeshwar, another temple town. After driving thru a busy narrow market street, we were in the Mahadev temple, Gopeshwar in Chamoli district. The architecture was different than the other temples we visited till date. On way towards Joshimath, we had a break at Pipalkoti and were at Joshimath by 8:30. We found accommodation at Hotel Malari Inn. There was a restaurant attached to the hotel opposite to that and the meal sumptuous meal night with roti, aaloo paratha, currey, dhal, rice, curd and achar.
Day 8 – 18-Oct-2019 – Badhrinath, Joshimath:
Badhrinath and Back via Vishnuprayag: https://goo.gl/maps/DktnMvtymA4iRtpq5
By 8 AM as usual, we started towards Badhrinath from Joshimath. It was a scenic 90 mins drive and reached Mana, cicle. At a 3 KM distance from this circle is the village of Mana, which is one of the border villages between India and Tibet. By 10:30, we were at the तप्त पानी कुंड (the hot water pond @ Badhtinath). We had a quick dip at the कुंड. It was a sulphur water sprint, and like in Yamunothri, it is not recommended to keep immerced in it for long. 100 m from that kund is Brahma Kapalam. The legend is that after chopping off Brahma’s fifth head, lord Shiva has the head struck in his hand and to get rid of it, he had go for bikshavandhanam. Lord Vishnu helped lord Shiva get rid of it. It is practice for Hindus to do pithru tharpanam at this place. Ram went for Tharpanam. Myself and Vignesh, roamed around shopping in the place for sometime. We were supposed to meet Ram and together we were to be in the Badhrinath temple. But this was missed in communication and each of us ended up going to the temple alone. Mobile network connectivity was also not good enough and calls hardly went. The crowd was swelling by the time I entered the temple, and I eventually had the darshan at around 11:30. This was again a small temple with the main sannidhi and there was a snnidhi for Naranarayanan(Arjuna and Krishna) and Hanuman in the prakaram. This temple was also established by Shri Adhisankara himself and so, has a mandapan where Shri Sankara himself was in meditation. Badhrinath is one of the divya desams. There is a mountain named Indraneelaparvatham which is 9 KMs behind the Badhrinath temple which is actually one of the 276 celebrated Shiva shrines sung by the naalvars. After the darshan at Badhrinath, I catught-up with Vignesh at the parking area by 1 PM or so. We know it would take time for Ram to complete the darshan and come. So, we went around and in one of the hotels, we sat for lunch. The hotel owner offered if we would like to have south Indian meals and we gladly accepted it. It was sambar rice, vazhakkai kari, papad, tayir sadham and achar. There was a tamil touring parting that was sitting adjutant to our table. We found that the food served in the hotel was actually prepared by them and excess food was given to the hotel owner and he offered that to us for a price. We met one T.S. Vasudevan who was organizing that tour. He said this was his 350th time to Badhrinath. Ram was back from darshan by 2:30 or 3 and we started back to Joshimath. On the way was we took a break at Vishnu Prayag. It is at the confluence of Alaknandha and Dhauli Ganga. Dhauli Ganga is believed to be flowing from padha dhooli of lord Vishnu. We missed the Pandukeshwar temple on the way as it was raining. Back at the hotel at about 4:30, had snack and team and prepared for the evening visit.
By 5:00 in evening we started by walk to the Narasimha Mandhir. Just as we entered the temple, aarthi started and we had darshan. Adjacent to the Narasimha temple was navadhurga mandhir. We had darshan at that temple too and proceeded towards Jothir Mutt. This Mutt was the 5 mutts established by Shri Adhisankaracharya. This was actually in Badhrinath, but moved to Joshimath due to severe cold. The other 5 mutts being the Sringeri mutt in the south, Dwaraka mutt in the west and Puri in the east and the Kanchi mutt as well in the south. The sankaracharya of the Dwaraka mutt heads the Jothir mutt as well. We were at the cave where Thodagacharya composed Thodagashtagam on Sankaracharya. Thodagacharyar was amoung the firstline disciple of Sankaracharya and was the first head of Jothir mutt established by this guru. There was 3 spatika lingams in there, 1 of which was established by Ashisankara himself and rest 2 by subsequent acharyas. After darshan at the mutt, we walked back to the hotel. We had already ordered roti, dhal, rice, south-Indian samar and curd. It was an excellent dinner and retired back to the room.
Joshimath Local Visit: https://goo.gl/maps/4faNTmbHEZDGyGReA
Note: Like Mana, Maleri is another village bordering China/Tibet. That was also an attraction that we couldn’t go. From Badhrinath, we can go for trek. This was the swargarogan trail, which the pandavas walked till they reached the heavenly aboard. This is supposed to be a 4 day trek with no man-made structure or communication. Youngsters with time and energy can try that trail. Also, we missed the valley of flowers, which again may take half a day and the ropeway in Joshimath(closes by 4:30 every evening).
Day 9 – 19-Oct-2019 – Prayag, Prayag:
Day 10 – 20-Oct-2019 – Rishikesh, Home @ Chennai:
