Chardham Yatra
It has been my long cherished desire to explore the nooks and corners of Incredible India and once I retired from service I started my expeditions/explorations in full swing along with my wife. Accordingly, when a leading Yatra service provider announced the Chardham yatra, we booked our seats forthwith.
The pilgrimage to the four holy places of Gangotri, Yamunothri, Kedarnath and Badrinath is collectively known as Chardham yatra. These are located in the picturesque Uttaranchal and Chardham yatra is considered the holiest of pilgrimages. The yatra started from Delhi via Haridwar, and we travelled almost the entire stretch of Himalayas. As is well known, the Holy Yamuna originates from Yamunothri and Ganges originates in Gangothri. Kedarnath has one of the twelve Jyotirlingas depicting Lord Shiva and Badrinath is one of the 108 Divyadesams of Lord Mahavishnu. Apart from the spiritual significance of the pilgrimage, one can admire nature in all its glory. The route to all these places is through mountains and so narrow that only one small bus can with difficulty pass through. If you look through the window, you can see that if the bus strays an inch, it will end in a precipitous fall. Only expert drivers can navigate these mountainous tracks. During the entire trip, we could see a number of waterfalls on the way. The mountain ranges are gigantic and in many places, we could see natural formations which looked as if they have been sculpted and chiseled by expert workmen. Yamuna and the Ganges in various nomenclatures travel all the way with you. The Ganges originates in Gangotri as Bhageerathi. It is so named after Bageerathan who after severe penance brought Ganges to earth. The river Mandakini flows from Kedarnath and the river Alaknanda flows from Badrinath . Along the way, we could see various prayags such as Rudraprayag(where Alaknanda and Mandakini merge),Karnaprayag(confluence of Alakananda and Pidari Ganga), Nandaprayag(Alakananda and Nandakini),Vishnuprayag(Alakananda and Dowliganga )and Devaprayag( where Alakananda merges with Bageerathi). We could aso see in Mana village near Badrinath the birth place of the River Saraswathi . It starts with such ferocity there, runs for 200 metres then disappears. It later reappears only in Allahabad in the Triveni Sangamam of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswathi.
Words are insufficient to describe the pristine beauty of the surroundings and the ecstatic pleasure we derived from seeing the mighty nature in all its glory all around us with waterfalls and rivers running with such ferocious sound and mountains everywhere, reminding us how small we are before Mother nature. In all the four holy places, the river water is so icy that we cannot take holy bath. Everywhere, there are hot springs where you can have a dip. It is said that these hot springs contain sulphur and you have to finish your holy dips in seconds.
The yatra was not without its moments of tension. We had so far read about landslides and rockfalls only in newspapers. On our way back from Gangothri, there was a huge landslide and we had to wait for hours in the jeep not knowing when it will be cleared. We could not even get down in the pitch darkness with mountains on one side and the flowing river on the other. In fear and desperation, everyone started chanting Rama nama. Finally, it was nearly 3 hours before the Army came with a JCB and cleared the place. But in retrospect, these stressful moments only enhanced the thrill and excitement of the Yatra.
The mountain ranges are known for their fickle weather and frequent rainfalls and weather Gods could have at any time played spoilsport with our Yatra. But, luckily, Gods were so kind that on two occasions, we escaped narrowly from the vagaries of weather gods. The road to Gangothri got closed the after we completed our journey there and after days of closure, the road to Badrinath opened only on the date of our visit.
It was a delight to see the holy rivers in full force travelling along with us. With such vast water resources from these perennial rivers it is shameful that we in the Southern States cry hoarse about water scarcity and fight with neighboring states for water. If only political sanity can prevail, can these rivers not be linked to bring a permanent solution to the problem and bring to an and this perennial source of dispute between States?
