The mighty Himalayas are home to Lord Shiva. On the tour to Himalayas every where you can find temples dedicated to Lord Shiva. In Uttaranchal alone there are many such temples, which are somehow related Pandavas – heros of the great Indian epic Mahabharata, who came here after their war with the Kauravas, in order to attain salvation. It is believed that Pandavas lost control over their mind after the war, in which they had to kill their own brothers and other relatives.
According to the legends, Pandavas went to Kashi (Himalayas ) to worship Lord Shiva in oder to wash away all their sins. But the Lord was in no mood to compel and forgive them. And so he left Kashi and went to Uttaranchal and turned himself into a bull to evade Pandavas.
Mythologically, Lord Shiva is considered as the Supreme God with three eyed and crescent moon on his brow. Of now it became almost impossible to recognize Lord Shiva in the massive herd of cattle. But the Pandavas didn't gave up. The gigantic bhim (five among the Pandavas brothers) stood astride the mountains and the Pandavas started leading the cattle under his legs. But one bull refused to pass under the Bhim's leg. And hence Pandavas soon recognized that the bull was Lord Shiva. Bhim took hold of bull and banged it on the earth.
Lord Shiva was pleased to see the true determination of Pandavas and decided to appear in his actual form. But is said that bull was banged into the earth with such a power that its body scattered in differed directions at different places. The hump fell at the place now called as Kedarnath, face at Rudranath,the arms at Tungnath, naval at Madhmaheshwar and the locks in Kalpeshwar. All these five place are alltogether known by the name of Panch Kedar. In-fact the Shivalingam worshiped in these places resemble the body parts of the bull.
All this made us more exited and we decided to visit Rudranath and Kalpeshwar first. We started our journey from Noida and reached Rishikesh. We bath bath in the Ganges and the next day we boarded a bus for Joshimath and halt at Helang, located between the Chamoli and Joshimath. Our journey was truly adventurous, we started our trekking tour from Helang itself and reachedSalna, a beautiful village situated along the Hiranyawati Ganga. As we were already too tired and so we decided to went early bed.
Next day we wake early in the morning and start our trekking journey after the breakfast. Passing through the pines and rhododendrons, we reached Urgam, the beautiful valley petrified with lush green forests and terraced fields. It is quite similar to the known Valley of Flowers. After exploring Urgam, we reached our next destination called Devgram famous for its hundred of temple sites, which were earlier washed away by the floods. But luckily a temple dedicated to Lord Shiv and Goddess Parvati still exists here.
After the exciting one full day in Devgram we went to Kalpeshwar, which is only two kilometers from here. It is one the five Kedar temples. The shrine here is in small cave which resemble the jata (locks)of Lord Shiva. After paying homage at the temple we went for the sightseeing tour in Kalpeshwar itself. Although the best time to visit this place rests between April to October but if you want to see Urgam valley in its full bloom, than we recommend you to visit the pace soon after the monsoons.
Our next destination was Dumak which is a beautiful hill village, famous for its exciting jungle trials and wildlife tours. The villagers here worship Bazir God, whom they consider as the doorman of Lord Rudranath. From here you get the magnificent view of the Himalayan peaks namely Trishul, Nanda Devi and Nanda Ghunti. After this we left for Panar dotted with different variety of Himalayan flowers, such a blue poppy and many others. Our jouney was getting more exited, Next we moved to Rudranath temple located amidst the thick forests. Here Lord Shiva is worshiped as Neelkanth Mahadev in the shape of mukh (face).
After paying homage at the temple we explored the nearby excursions including the Chaukhamba Peak, Nanda GhuntiAnsurya Devi temple, Sidhapeeth etc. And with this our journey came to an end. We thank Lord Shiva for giving us strength for covering such a long distance and allowing us to peep into his divine abode.
Aparana Chauhan
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