Chardham Yatra - Part 5 (Kharadi to Nayatala via Uttarkashi)

Day 4 (22/05/2019) - The day began with the customary wake up call by Ranveer along with coffee at 5 a.m.  We finished our morning ablutions, prayers and packing by 6 a.m. As usual, the bigger bags went on top of the TT and the smaller bags with essentials were taken inside. The reason for such early starts every day was to avoid the inevitable traffic congestion which occur as the day progresses. Also, the weather is much better in the early part of the day and, as mentioned earlier, the day begins very early in the mountains.

As the loading of the bags was taking time, we took some group photographs to capture memories of our stay at Kharadi. The hotel was located on the main road leading to Yamunotri and hence traffic is usually high on this road. On one side of the road is the hotel and on the other side we could see Yamuna river rushing down towards the plains. We were told that, in the 2013 cloudburst tragedy, the shops that were present on the Yamuna side were washed away along with a part of the road. Hence the hotel had to demolish a part of their structure to give space for the new road. 

By 6.45 a.m. we were on our way towards Uttar Kashi which was our next destination. The distance to Uttar Kashi was 91 kms which usually would take about 3.5 hours of driving. However, on the way, we had a few halts which is described below. The first halt was for breakfast at around 8.45 a.m. Ranveer had made an excellent breakfast of Dhaliya (Lapsee Rava) vegetable Upma with chutney. As usual, he gave a good part of the breakfast to the owner of the eatery where we halted. The eatery was run by a young boy of only 18 years of age. He was managing to cook, serve, clean and handle the cash transactions. He was making lovely aloo parathas for pilgrims who were not accompanied by a cook and depended on such eateries. He informed me that his eatery joint was a temporary one to cater to the rush of pilgrims and usually business lasted only for a couple of months in the year. Rest of the time, he would tend to his land and cattle in his village.

After breakfast, we drove on till we came to the Prikateshwar Panchanan Shiva temple. One had to climb around 100 odd steps to reach the temple which is located inside a cave. The route to the temple is picturesque with lots of trees & greenery around. It is believed that Lord Shiva had meditated inside this cave. The rocks inside the cave have unique natural formations – like that of a bird, a lizard etc. The huge Shiva Linga itself is said to be Swayambhu or natural and it has Lord Ganesh and Devi Parvati on two sides. There is an underground source of water within the cave which is said to be Ganga. One had to literally crawl to go inside the cave which is large once inside. As the entry & exit opening is narrow, it is available for only one person at a time and hence one is not allowed to stay inside for long.

After darshan of the temple, we came down to the road side and had some fresh lemon & Pudina juice which was very refreshing. We then proceeded towards UttarKashi. We could see the Bhagirati river on our right side flowing down from Gangotri. It was a wonderful sight indeed. On the way, we stopped for lunch which was another tasty fare of rice, sambhar, curds and cabbage bhaji. By the time we reached Uttar Kashi, it was past noon and it was very hot there. The Sun was blazing down in full glory and our bodies had to adjust to the change in temperature. Uttarkashi is a bustling town which has sprung up on both sides of the Bhagirati river. Once upon a time, it was frequented only by holy seers and served as a meditation spot. Swami Chinmayananda and His Guru, Swami Tapovan, used to have an ashram here. Now, with improvement in connectivity, the town has become very busy and has developed rapidly.

We walked up to the temple from the nearby bus parking area. Fortunately, most temples in North India are open through the day and hence we could get darshan easily. The temple priest kindly gave us some information about the temple. He informed us that this Shiva Linga is also a Swayambhu as it is not straight but slightly tilted towards the South side. He informed us that this is a Jyotirlinga equal to, if not superior to, the Lingam at Varanasi. He say that the original Lingam of Varanasi is now situated inside the mosque and the one which we all have darshan is a substitute of the original. In contrast, the Lingam at Uttar Kashi is the original Swayambhu and has not been disturbed or desecrated by invaders. We were delighted to hear of this version and were grateful to him to enlighten us.

Just outside this temple is the large Trishul which was purportedly used by Devi Durga. The main attraction here is a huge and heavy Trishul (trident) - 6 meters in height and 90 cms at the bottom which was thrown at the Asuras by Goddess Durga. The Trishul, as the priest told us, is made of iron in the upper part and copper in the lower part and is revered as a form of Shakti. One amazing feature of the Trishul is that it cannot be moved with your entire body force but it vibrates the moment you apply pressure with one of your fingers!

After this darshan, we moved towards the bus parking area and as it was very warm, we all had couple of juices at a nearby shop. One of the juices was of wood apple fruit which tastes like peach and is supposedly very nutritious. The other juice we had was of sugarcane. We then proceeded towards our hotel at Nayatala which was about 20 kms away from Uttarkashi on the route towards Gangotri. 

Our hotel was very decent which was overlooking the Bhagirati river on one side. We were fortunate to have stayed here for two nights. As it was 4.30 pm when we reached, Ranveer made nice bhajias for evening snacks along with green chutney. It got finished in no time. My wife and I were on Sankashti fast (only one meal in the night) and hence missed all the goodies of the day.

We washed some of our clothes in the evening as the hotel & its bathroom was clean and we had plenty of space to hang our wet clothes. As we had carried washing soap, brush, clothesline & clips, this procedure was completed comfortably. In the night, Ranveer had made chappatis, dal, curd rice and unripe Jackfruit bhaji. It was a wonderful way to break our fast and, as always, the food tasted heavenly.

That night we retired by 9.30 p.m. as we had to leave by 5 a.m. next morning for our second Dham darshan – Gangotri. More about that in my next blog.

Thus ended Day 4 of our Yatra.