Day - 4 (08/11/2024)
Our third day's itinerary: Narasingh Mandir, Dronagiri View Point, Bhavishya Badari, Auli Hanuman Mandir, Vishu Prayag, Yogdhyan Badari, Kuber Temple, Badari Kshethra (Shayana Aarti) and night halt.
A recap of the third day's places of visit: Narasingh Mandir, Bhavishya Badari, Mana village and visit to Saraswathi river's origin, Maharshi Vyasa's Gufa and Lord Ganesh Gufa, Badari Kshethra (Shayana Aarti) and night halt there. We rescheduled our visit to Vishnu Prayag and Yogdhyan Badari to day 5 while we dropped others due to paucity of time but did an extra by visiting Mana.
Plan for the fourth day: At Badari Kshetra, trek to Charan Paaduka, Mana Village (visited the previous day itself), Joshimath Shankaracharya Math and the night halt at Joshimath.
Hop on to our limousine, with us, for a virtual tour of our Day 4 activities.
Come morning, we went off to our rendezvous with the Pandit who guided us in performing the rites and offerings to our ancestors. The place is called Brahma Kapala and it is believed that the fifth head of Lord Brahma cut off by Lord Shiva, with his fingernails, fell at this place, hence the name. There were others too, performing similar rites to their ancestors. Though there was a place close by known as ‘Tapta Kund’ with a copious flow of hot water, we didn’t have a bath here as it was biting cold and the temperature was in the low single digits. We couldn’t perform the rites per our South Indian tradition as we were forced to wear woolens throughout the event. I must thank Suma Aunty as she was kind enough to accompany us with Sumithra and clicked a few pics while calling our folks back home on video call, for them to see the event.
At last, we reached the place, which has the foot marks of the Lord on the rock, believed to be the spot, on which Lord Vishnu’s feet touched the ground. It was such a blissful feeling and we felt blessed to bow down to the feet (footprints) of the Lord. We met up with Suman and Srishti here too. Refreshing 'Payasa' was served here by a person who spoke in Kannada with us. There was an eternal lamp burning in a cave behind where he was preparing Payasa. We thanked him for the payasa and then started to climb down.
Suma Aunty and Radha climbed down in haste as they had to perform naivedya to the Lord before we wound up our trip. Anil and I ambled down leisurely. I filled my water bottle with the cold spring water from the mountains and my God! It was indeed cold and refreshing to drink. We told others that we would wait for lunch, at the restaurant where we had breakfast earlier.
After lunch, we hastened to the hotel, packed our stuff, loaded it onto the vehicle and proceeded to our next place of visit, Hauman Chatti around 12 km from Badarinath, which is on the right side of the road, on the way to Joshimath.
The priest of this temple said that Tulasi garlands to Badarinath temple are sourced from this place.
Our next stop was Pandukeshwar – also known as Yogadhyan Badari. Around midway between Badarinath and Joshimath, this place was founded by Pandu Raja, father of the great Pandavas. The stairs below the entry arch, by the main road to Joshimath, take you down to the temple complex. The Yogdhyan Badari Temple is as old as the temple of Badrinath. Pandukeshwar is 24 km from Joshimath, it has the Yogdhyan Badari temple one of the Panch Badari. The image here, in a meditative posture, is worshiped as at Badrinath.
According to the myth, the Pandavas made over Hastinapur to Raja Parikshit and retired here. Also, King Pandu, the father of Pandavas had spent his last days doing penance here before his Nirvana, and hence the name. Some famous copper plates carrying old inscriptions, providing valuable information on the history of the temple and early Katyuri Rajas have been found here. The surrounding region is Panchal Desh better known as Uttarakhand. Suryakund, which is on the top of Milam glacier, is a hot water spring. Here Kunti is said to have given birth to Karna, fathered by Surya. Pandu married Kunti at Pandukeshwar near Sri Badrinath[1].
Suma Aunty bought a Dhaavali (woolen dothi) here. We (Anil, Dwarkanath and I) had picked up the same on our way to Badrinath, the previous afternoon.
Our next stop was Vishnu Prayag. Just by the highway and a short climb down the stairs from the entry arch, you will reach the Lord Vishnu temple at this place. There is also a temple dedicated to Bhootnath Mahadev.
Here we could see the first of the major five confluences of the rivers that ultimately flow as the mighty river Ganga from Dev Prayag onwards. At this point, it is the confluence of rivers Alakananda (right) and Dauli Ganga (left). This is also the first of the Pancha Prayag. The name of Vishnu is due to the legend. Sage Narada worshipped Lord Vishnu at this place and the Lord appeared in front of the Sage.
Our next stop was Joshimath (also known as Jyothirmath), where we went to Shankara Matha (a short distance from the main road), had the darshan of Lakshmi Narayana and the amazing crystal Shiva Linga from the period of Adi Shankara, that diffuses different colours when shown to light. Trotakacharya, a disciple of Adi Jagatguru Shankaracharya established Shankaracharya Math under the supervision of Adi Jagadguru Shankaracharya in the 8th century. This is Atharva Veda (one of the four Vedas) monastery and Vedic school where students come from all over the country and world. This complex has a temple dedicated to Maa Rajarajeshwari, too.
Just outside the Matha, there is another temple, ‘Bhavishya Kedara’! Legend says that once the existing Badari and Kedara become inaccessible, Bhavishya Badari and Bhavishya Kedara will become prominent.
After having darshana of this ancient monastery, we proceeded to our hotel for the overnight stay and also to reunite with our baggage left behind at this Hotel Neelkanth, on our onward journey to Badarinath. Our dinner (the menfolk) consisted of pulkas, dal and curds while the womenfolk had rice, in addition.
Persistent follow-up by Suma Aunty of the missing parcel, yielded results as it was finally traced and sent to Pipalkoti’s office. We were supposed to collect it from this place the next day.
Plan vs. Actual:
We visited a couple of places more than planned. On the way to Joshimath, we visited Hanuman Chatti, Pandukeshwar (Yogdhyana Badari), and Vishnu Prayag.
----------------------------------------
Phone:+919634367500
Continued .... in Part 5
[1] From the website https://chamoli.gov.in/tourist-place/yogdhyan-badri/
.jpeg)
3 comments:
Excellent presentation!
Am planning to save complete series just to recollect our memorable moments!!in future and a guide for near and dear ones!
Great going!
Dwarakanath
Excellent Ramesh. Very detailed and educative, I must say!
Such a beautiful narration and the journey
Post a Comment