Shrikhand Mahadev Yatra
- A Pilgrimage to Shiva’s abode
Introduction:
The article is about a pilgrimage to a sacred Himalayan mountain (16400 feet as per my altimeter). The mountain range lies in a North Indian State of Himachal Pradesh. In this Himalayan State Goddess Parvati and Lord Shiva are worshipped in different manifestation and Himalayan people consider Lord Shiva their Brother in Law as Parvati is the daughter of Himalaya. Numerous folklores still echoes deep valleys, throwing a great light on the glorious past which unlike written history remained true and intact to its nature. Since ages Gaddis (Nomads) in Himalaya remained great explorers.
Spending summer and monsoons months, they discovered, up kept and maintained majority of these monument and shrines. Though visiting high mountains for rest of the people from adjoining valleys was to seek blessing of Gods and Goddesses, collecting natural wealth of curative Himalayan herbs and to break the regular routine of home. And this all worked as an annual stimulant for them. Himalayan people consider visiting mountains pious and believe it to be God’s invitation.
The beginning of year 2020 came along with worldwide lockdown and these months allowed the much required healing to these eco – sensitive Himalayan pockets.
As discussed above we believe here that your mountain will invite you, same happened with us as all this was quickly planned and plan was executed.
01st October 2020
Early morning we drove to village Jaon (District Kullu), 152 km North East of Shimla. Our team included me (Sanjay Verma), Sanjeev Chauhan, Sanjay Mehata, Pankaj Chauhan, Raj Sharma and Saurav Chauhan the youngest member of the team who completed the entire trek of 70 km barefoot.
Driving through the traces of Old Hindustan Tibet Road (Built by British in 1860) till Narkanda (70 km), the drive plunged into Sutlej River and was crossed over a bridge to enter district Kullu and finally to the village Jaon.
The village of Jaon is based by the bank of River Kurpan and sandwiched between two steep mountains. Following the River we hiked for an hour to reach Brati Nala from the road head for overnight. Here we stayed at a hermit’s hut; the hermit here serves as a motivator and offers necessary guidelines to every pilgrim before undertaking this strenuous pilgrimage. Being mine first experience at hermitage, I closely watched everything and we touched with deep devotion of Sh. Saurav Giri, selflessly severing pilgrims.
Hermit, Saint or Baba are the section of human society who decides to leave the worldly matters to seek the greater meaning of life by living a secluded life. And Sh. Giri is an Engineer by profession left his highly paid job in search of a greater task.
Series of interesting discussions on various topics including the pilgrimage route made the evening joyful. Also we took the charge of kitchen and cooked food. Post dinner, we informed Sh. Giri about our early departure and not to bother about tea at five in the morning.
02nd October 2020
Everyone woke up sharply at five, quietly followed the gushing Kurpan and soon crossed a wooden bridge. Here we filled our water bottles for a grueling six hours of steep uphill hike and started ascending with a good pace as dawn pierced through thick coniferous cover.
Even after sunrise which illuminated the entire valley, the perfect hiking temperature allowed us to maintain our pace and enjoy every moment. Soon the forest cover ended and gave way to undisturbed panoramic views of endless meadows, endless moraine fields intercepted by gigantic glaciers and ultimately sharp pinnacles all around!
Before we all reached to the top of Kali Ghati, a mountain top offering the comprehensive picture of our final destination including the route, it was one o’clock and we enjoyed our packed lunch. It was also decided to camp after two hours and the campsite was clearly visible. The last leg of the day’s journey which lasted for another hour and a half brought us to this beautiful meadow adored with a lone shepherd’s hut. The entire area was divided by tiny glacial streams making it a perfect camping spot as the route before was devoid of water.
On arrival we quickly pitched our tents, while some of us checked the shepherd’s hut which was nice and cozy with a fireplace in the center. We looked for fuel wood around and got few handful bundles which were adequate to warm our food.
As dusk was setting in, there arrived a native of Jaon village on his way back, looking for shelter with his team as they didn’t took any tent with them. So we decided to offer the hut to them after our meals.
After dinner we found light appearing behind the horizons and soon realized that it is a full moon night. With in no time the entire valley bathed in the mild moonlight and we slept sound under the night full of stars.
03rd October 2020
Being an early riser, I woke up in the morning first, had a stroll around and prepared hot cup of tea for everyone. The sun was about to rise, loosing no time we packed our tents, took pleasure of morning exercise and enjoyed our outdoor breakfast with morning sun under clear blue skies.
At nine we were fully ready to bid goodbye to the place and marched on the tiny trail which was mostly flat, however, at places took a sharp plunge and then ascended at almost eighty degrees putting our all four limbs at times into practice.
Being bit late in the season, the annual flora was in the process of decaying, though the slopes were still green and we could admire banks of Potentella nepalesis in shady areas. And today there was plentiful of water en-route at regular intervals flowing down from high waterfalls.
Within two hours we were at ‘Bheem Dwar’, an expansive campsite which remains busy at the time of annual pilgrimage in August. The waterfall on the opposite slope was so white that it appeard as if it was pouring milk down.
With a light breakfast everyone gave a nod for lunch here. Black tea was prepared on the fire and everyone relished the home made food which came from every home. Since we were doing good with the time and it was decided to ascend up to Parvati Bagh, a higher campsite as it eased our final ascend on the following day.
Our last leg of today’s hike started by crossing another river which was fed by two beautiful waterfalls and appeared as milk was flowing down till it touched the foot of the river.
On the other side we were welcomed by a steep ascent for another hour and a half. Our speed went bit slow with our heavy rucksacks as we were touching 13500 feet from mean sea level. Arriving at the top was a small shrine dedicated to Goddess Parvati and the ground was leveled for tent pitching.
With plenty of time left for sunset, we pitched our tents, had a cup of tea and enjoyed the distant views down of the interlocked valleys.
Next to our camp as I hopped over the moraine fields, to my surprise found banks of Bhrama Kamal (Saussurea obvallata) widely scattered and this was a pleasant site.
Departure time in the morning was decided six before we went to sleep. Even quite chilly outside we enjoyed a sound sleep in our cozy tents.
04th October 2020
As we were about to come out of our respective tents, we heard human sounds in the morning at quarter to six and we later met them en route, they were two pilgrims from Una (Himachal Pradesh).
Soon everyone got ready and leaving behind everything, we made a slow but steady advancement towards our goal. According to the legend you have to proceed via a lake known as ‘Nain Sarover’ before getting to the summit. So we did the same and scattered over these moraine fields our party was making a good progress. With the steep ascent after the lake for about forty five minutes brought us to the top of mountain.
The morning sunrays were piercing through the thick veil of fog mixed with smoke over the valleys and it was all amazing. Massive glaciers were being lit with the morning sun and their water course was clearly visible, fading down the valley. Reaching this milestone for a moment I forgot the fatigue with the amazing views below me.
The route to climb further was over mountain tops and the access was through huge piles of rocks which seemed like as if they were arranged. The crawling has begun, though it was but the progress was very slow. Occasionally, the gush of cool morning breeze from the valley indicated about the distant views.
And after an hour of exhausting creeping and hopping over the rocks, I came to the point where a long slope of hard packed snow of glacier blocked my route. I searched for the foot marks and there were none and with no success I decided to wait for others.
As others arrived we took few steps over the snow together, a long narrow gully through the crack of the rock paved our way further. And getting to the top now we could clearly see our destination just five hundred meters away from us.
Taking a deep breath we reached the place which now is leveled so as many people can stand together. Seeing a national flag fluttering with pride brought joy on everyone’s face.
There is no shrine, temple or man-made monument, just a huge rock which is being worshipped as Shivlingam. Large numbers of tridents are being piled around the lingam as a mark of respect by the devotees to Shiva.
We sat together, enjoyed the views and relished our packed lunch while discussing about various mountains ranges which were clearly visible. With the wind gush clouds appeared down from the valley and soon the sunlight was being engulfed which made the place freezing!
Paying our obeisance and bidding goodbye to Lord Shiva we started descending. Half the way down on the mountain we could observe snowflakes and this is considered as good omen. Descend was effortless however, the leg muscles were feeling the extreme pressure and we used various mountaineering techniques to minimize the effect.
We were back at the camp early afternoon, stretching, exercising and relaxing, everyone soon recovered from the fatigue. Hot soup and dinner was prepared on the fire and everyone retired back to their respective tents.
05th October 2020
The dawn broke behind the valley and sunlight glanced over the towering mountains at Parvati Bagh. Before that a single pilgrim from Punjab whom we met down at the hermitage was also camping here previous night and was ready to leave for the summit. I woke up to stroll around, took some photos and saw the gentleman eloping into the moraine fields.
Loosing no time I got stationed at our fireplace, collected bundles of twigs to prepare morning and breakfast. In meanwhile the sunlight warmed our tents; everyone came out of their tents and started packing.
Post breakfast we were almost ready and before bidding goodbye to the place we decided to sing and dance. This exercise rejuvenated the team and we plunged down into the valley. All the places en route were known now and team was making a good progress. We all reached back to the hermitage safely at quarter past eight in the night. Here hermit was delighted with our effort and safe return, he ordered his disciple to prepare tea for all of us. And the hot cup of tea served as stimulant to us. He insisted us to stay back, however, everyone was adamant to move back and at ten in the night we were at the road head.
Paying our humble obeisance to the place and the mountain Gods we departed back to Shimla and reached early morning, bringing another Himalayan voyage to an end.
