Photo Copyright: Satyabrata Maiti
In Continuation of my previous Blog (https://test.biotriktest.online/trekking-to-kalpeshwar-temple-the-fifth-of-pancha-kedar-pilgrimage-circuit-in-2024/)
There is a belief that after completing the pilgrimage of Shiva’s darshan at the Panch Kedar Temples, it is an unwritten religious rite to worship Vishnu at the Badrinath Temple. There are Sapta Badri temples at various locations of Uttarakhand. These are:
| Badri Temples | Description |
| 1. Badrinath Temple | Badarinath or Badarinarayana Temple is a dedicated to Vishnu. It is situated in the town of Badrinath in Uttarakhand which is located in Garhwal hill tracts along the banks of the Alaknanda River in Chamoli district. The hill tracts are located 3,133 m (10,279 ft) above the mean sea level. The Nar Parbat mountain is located opposite to the temple, while the Narayana Parbat is located behind the Neelkanth peak. The main shrine houses the 1 ft (0.30 m) Shaligram (black stone) deity of Badrinarayana, which is housed in a gold canopy under a Badri Tree. The deity of Badrinarayana shows him holding a Shankha (conch) and a Chakra (wheel) in two of his arms in a lifted posture and the other two arms resting on his lap in a Yogamudra (Padmasana) posture. |
| 2. Vriddha Badri or Briddha Badri | An austere shrine, is located in the Animath village [1,380 m (4,530 ft), above sea level] about 7 km from Joshimath on the Rishikesh–Joshimath-Badrinath road. The Vriddha Badri legend says that Vishnu appeared in the form of a Vriddha or old man before sage Narada who performed penance here. Thus, the idol installed at this temple is in the form of an old man. |
| 3. Bhavishya Badri
|
Bhabisya Badri, 2,744 metres (9,003 ft), above sea level) is located in a village called Subhain at a distance of 17 kilometres (11 mi) from Joshimath, beyond Tapovan and now connected with a motorable road. According to the legend of Bhavishya Badri (literally “Badri of the future”), when evil transcends the world, the mountains of Nara and Narayana would block up the route to Badrinath and the sacred shrine would become inaccessible. The present world will be destroyed and a new one established. Then, Badrinath will appear at the Bhavishya Badri temple and be worshipped here, instead of the Badrinath shrine. |
| 4. Yogadhyan Badri
|
Yogadhyan Badri, also called Yoga Badri, is located at Pandukeshwar (30°38′2″N 79°32′51″E) at the elevation of 1,829 metres (6,001 ft), close to Govind Ghat and is as ancient as the main Badrinath temple.
Legend has it that King Pandu, father of the five Pandavas – heroes of the epic Mahabharata, meditated here to god Vishnu to cleanse him of the sin of killing of two mating deer, who were ascetics in their previous lives. The Pandavas were also born here and Pandu died and attained salvation here.[7] Pandu is believed to have installed the bronze image of Vishnu in the Yogadhyan Badri shrine. |
| 5. Dhyan Badri
|
Dhyan Badri [2,135 metres (7,005 ft), above sea level] is located in the Urgam valley, close to Kalpeshwar (30°25′44″N 79°25′37″E) on the banks of river Kalpa Ganga. It can be reached from Helang Chatti which is situated on the NH7 (Chamoli – Joshimath road) & then further drive down to Urgam, Lyari & Devagram followed by a 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) trek. The legend of Dhyan Badri (meditating Badri) is linked to the Urvarishi, son of King Puranjaya of the Pandavas lineage who meditated in the Urgam region and established the temple for Vishnu. |
| 6. Ardha Badri
|
Ardha Badri, located on the Joshimath-Tapovan road is in a remote village and can be approached only by trekking along a steep bridle path. As the size of the idol is small, the temple is called Ardha Badri (literal meaning half Badri). |
| 7. Narasingh Badri
|
The existing temple of Narasimha (Narasingh) at Joshimath (30°33′3″N 79°33′30″E), also called as Narasingh Badri or Narasimha Badri, is closely linked to the Bhavishya Badri legend, even though usually it is regarded as not one of the famous Panch Badri or Sapta Badri. |
18-Jun-2024
Hence we headed towards Badrinath-ji Temple after completing Kalpeshwar Mahadev temple visit. We planned to have night stay in my long cherished dream Maana village. We left Urgam on 18-Jun-2024 at10:40 am and headed towards Badrinath temple by remembering the Tagor’s song.
“আমার এই পথ চাওয়াতেই আনন্দ” (Mu joy is in watching the path)
Our first stop was within ten to fifteen minutes drive at Dhyan Badri Temple. We found that the temple was closed by the time we reached, hence we took some photographs of the temple from outside and its premises.
At about 11:10 we left the place and reached Helang Junction at 1205 followed by Kalpganga Alkaganga confluence at Helang Junction by 12:10 pm. We stopped a while to see and take some photographs of the confluence, but could not do because of long trees obstructing the clear view. We then went to Vridha Badri Temple by 12:20 pm. Temple is about 10-15 min walking down the hill path from the road head.
Vriddha Badri: It is the third among the ‘Sapta Badri’ temples. Devotees also believed that Adi Shankaracharya worshipped Badrinath here before enshrining Him in the main Badrinath temple. Vriddha Badri is temple is open for devotees and pilgrims throughout the year.
We reached Joshi Math at 1:30 pm. It was looking deserted after the last years building collapsing. I was told that visitors to Joshi Math have been reduced drastically and outsiders are not predefining to stay in Joshi Math anymore. We took a turn towards Tapovan from Joshi Math junction and reached Tapovan by about 2:30 pm. We had lunch there and left the place for Bhavishy Badri which was about 13 km from Tapovan in up hills. We reached there by 3:15 pm. It was in a wonderful location covered with forest trees. Some beliefs about the temple:
- As per the legend associated with the history of Bhavishya Badri, when Shri Adi Shankaracharyatook Badri Vishal from Tapta Kund, a prophecy was made. According to that prophecy, at the end of Kaliyuga, the mountains Nara and Narsimha will lead to blockade in the path towards Badrinath and make the journey inaccessible
- As a result, Lord Badri will take abode in Bhavishya Badri. From that time onward, His worship will take place at this place. Even the name of the place literally translates to ‘Future Badri‘, implying that it will be the futureresidence of Lord Badri.
- The temple Narsingh, located at Joshimath has a beautifully carved statue of Lord Narsingh carrying a sword. As per the traditions, the arm carrying that sword is getting thinner year by year, and in Kaliyug this arm will breakdown.
We spent about half an hour in the temple and its soundings. I only felt pity to visit the place by a motorable road instead of trekking through the forest. I once again realised how are we running away from our spiritual travel by constructing motorable roads, ropeway, helicopter transportation, etc. The joy of walking and climbing through the forest is vanishing fast. Comfort, business, tourist attraction, economic consideration, etc are spoiling the environment as well as the joy of spiritual travel.
We returned to Joshimath junction by 4:55 pm and faced heavy traffic in Marwari road. We reached Vishnuprayag by 6:50 pm, Gavindhaghat by 7:00 pm and Badrinath by 8:00 pm. We encountered some light rain in Govindghat.
When we reached Badrinath, we found huge crowd in the temple site and realised again that we are a country of 140 crores. There was no possibility for Darshan within 4-5 hours. I engaged myself in taking photographs of the temple which was changing its hue time to time with various changing coloured lightings. Geetha went to venture “Darshan” and to be accommodated in the line. However, she returned after about an hour seeing the slow movement of the devotee in the temple. Finally, we reached the parking place at the base of Mana village at 9:10 pm which was about 3 km from the Devasthnam. Parking lot was full and somehow Pradeep could find a place to park the vehicle. We walked to the homestay “Moksha” and occupied our booked rooms. We were told that there was no power in the village for last three days but to our luck it was restored within 20 min.
Maana Village: Maana was the last village of India, on the border with Tibet and 3 kms from Holy Badarinath in Uttaranchal, Himalayas. Maana is very small but beautiful. This was named after the Manasa putras (sons) of Brahma. Maana village is inhabited by Indo- Mangolian tribes called Bhotias.
Once again my dream shattered seeing the parking lot and also the crowd in Mana village which is not at all a village now but truly be called Mana township. I was told that all this metamorphosis has begun after Hon’ble PM announced the village as the first village of India. I realised “Pragati (Development) and Vinash (destruction) are two sides of the same coin. We are developing towards financial growth and backing out from our spiritual development.
19-Jun-2024
I got up in the morning at 5:00 am and went out for walking in the village. After walking for about half an hour, I returned back to home stay and found Geetha was ready by then. She came with me and we went to Ganesh gufa (Cave), Vyas gufa, Keshava prayag confluence of Alakananda and Swaraswati rivers and Bhim pul.
Ganesha Gufa: The dark and a mysterious, Ganesha Cave in Mana village is a naturally formed cave, located about 4 km from Badrinath. This mystical cave is situated near the Vyas Cave, another popular attraction of Mana village. As per the Hindu scripture, the Ganesha cave is the place where Mahabharata was penned down by the Lord Ganesh.
Vyas Gufa: It is believed that Vyasacharya dictated his most popular epic Mahabharata to Lord Ganesh here. In addition to this, Vyasacharya classified Vedas into 4, namely Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva Vedas. He has also written Brahma Sutras. The rock formation in the caves seems to resemble the orderly stacking of palm leaves manuscripts.
Bhim Pul (Bridge): There was a bridge known as Bhim pul, where Bhima, strongest pandava while on their journey to heaven placed a huge boulder on the stream so that Draupadi could cross easily.
Keshav Prayag: Where the Saraswati River flows underneath due to a curse from Lord Ganesha. Here, it meets the Alaknanda River, then vanishes underground, and only its name remains in the confluence of rivers at Allahabad Sangam.
We then returned back to the home stay and got ready for going to Vasudhara falls which was about 6 km trekking along stiff mountain road. We three, Pradeep, Geetha and me started walking at 9:00 am after taking breakfast through Sargarohini path after crossing the Bhim pul (bridge).
We reached Vasudhara falls by 12:30 pm. It was not an easy path, moreover, there was no tree on the trek. Weather was although cloudy but very hot due to stony path. There is a belief that water of the falls splashes naturally on the person who has not committed any sin in life. When we reached, we found that everybody was getting water splash and for me it was difficult to take photographs of the falls from that close because of water splash on the lens.
After spending some time we again started walking back from the site at 1:00 pm. we returned by 3:45 pm in our home stay.
I met two kinds of people, one group expressed their happiness and my enthusiasm at this age and one group made sarcastic comments on my photography at this age. I enjoyed their comments and remained silent.
20-Jun-2024
I got up at 5:00 am and I went out in the village again and could take some photographs of village women in their traditional costume and returned. We checked out the homestay by 8:00 am and went to Badrinath Temple once again with a hope that we could get Darshan by an hour.
Geetha enthusiastically went in the que again and by seeing the crowed I did not dare. Geetha returned back after an hour without reaching near to the temple. It reminded me
রথযাত্রা লোকারণ্য মহা ধুম ধাম, যাত্রীরা লুটায়ে সবে কৰিছে প্রণাম I
পথ ভাবে আমি দেব, রথ ভাবে আমি, মূর্তি ভাবে আমি দেব, হাঁসেন অন্তরযামী I
(Translation: Chariot festival is celebrated with lot of fanfare. All devotees are respecting God by bowing down on roads (pranam). Seeing this, road thinks, he is God, chariot thinks he is God, idol in chariot thinks he is God, but, real God inside the heart, smiles.)
With this feeling in hearts we left the Temple site without “Darshan” and praying from a distance to the God for granting “Sumati (wise and good mind) to the whole world”.
Jai Hind!
Satyabrata Maiti
(To Be Continued …..)
Acknowledgement:
- My Co-trekker, for her cooperation and support;
- Pradeep, Driver-cum-guide for his generous support and friendly discussions while trekking;
- Diwan, Guide for providing an excellent stay in his newly built home stay rooms and taking around the village.
- On line resources were used for the write up.
References:
- https://test.biotriktest.online/trekking-to-kalpeshwar-temple-the-fifth-of-pancha-kedar-pilgrimage-circuit-in-2024/
- https://test.biotriktest.online/trekking-to-tungnath-temple-chandrashila-and-deoriatal-a-thrilling-experience/
- https://test.biotriktest.online/my-rudranath-trekking-toughest-of-the-panch-kedars-in-2022-a-lifetime-experience/
- https://test.biotriktest.online/my-madhyamaheshwar-trekking-a-heaven-on-earth-experience-3-nov-2022-to-6-nov-2022/
- The Wikipedia for giving insight of various subjects
- Online open source of information
Sir your photography is very good!
Sir you are very good trekker sir ,Sir, I like your every block very much,Madam, I really liked you behavior very much.
Thank you Deewan ji for your encouraging comments. This time we missed you. Next time I wish to trek with you. I enjoyed stay in your home stay. My pranam to your mother. Stay blessed.
Dear Dada! I congratulate you and your trekking team. Your travelogue is informative and joyful to read. I felt, I was co-trekking with you. Very graphical descriptions of all seven barish and the Mana township. From the traditional photos, they resemble Tibetians. Very good job indeed.
Thank you Dr. Devakumar for your encouraging comments. I look forward meeting you at the earliest. Stay blessed. Regards
Interesting article. Informative and well articulated to refer and use by anyone when they visit. We need right view to save us from the hell of wrong view. And we need no view to save us from the restlessness of right view. Hope the individual is strong enough to protect from wrong view and restful while freeing from right view. Thank you for the live relay. Love ❤️
Dear Prabee, It is always gives me pleasure listening you. Thanks for you encouraging comments and suggestions. Regards
Enjoyed the vivid description of the journey. Thank you so much for sharing fantastic photographs of beautiful places. But the crowd at every place is really grievous. That reminds me a poem named ‘সভ্যতার প্রতি’ (To civilization) written by Rabindranath Tagore. The poem starts as ‘দাও ফিরে সে অরণ্য, লও এ নগর’ (Give us back the sylvan past, take away modern urbanization). Hope human being will realize that very soon.
Enjoyed the vivid description of the journey . Thank you so much for sharing fantastic photographs of beautiful places. But the crowd at every place is really grievous. That reminds me a poem named ‘সভ্যতার প্রতি'(To civilization) written by Rabindranath Tagore. The poem starts as ‘দাও ফিরে সে অরণ্য, লও এ নগর ‘(Give us back the sylvan past, take away modern urbanization). Hope human being will realize that very soon.
Thank you Munnu for you comments and adding ‘দাও ফিরে সে অরণ্য, লও এ নগর ‘. I enjoy the forest and nature and some time I forget myself in that environment. Stay blessed.
Enjoyed the vivid description of the journey . Thank you so much for sharing fantastic photographs of beautiful places. But the crowd at every place is really grievous. That reminds me a poem named ‘সভ্যতার প্রতি'(To civilization) written by Rabindranath Tagore. The poem starts as ‘দাও ফিরে সে অরণ্য, লও এ নগর ‘(Give us back the sylvan past, take away modern urbanization).
Enjoyed the vivid description of the journey . Thank you so much for sharing fantastic photographs of beautiful places. But the crowd at every place is really grievous. Rabindranath Tagore wrote in his poem ‘দাও ফিরে সে অরণ্য, লও এ নগর ‘(Give us back the sylvan past, take away modern urbanization). Shouldn’t we realize this?
Enjoyed the vivid description of the journey . Thank you so much for sharing fantastic photographs of beautiful places. But the crowd at every place is really grievous. Rabindranath Tagore wrote in his poem ‘Give us back the sylvan past, take away modern urbanization’. Shouldn’t we realize this?
Enjoyed the vivid description of the journey . Thank you so much for sharing fantastic photographs of beautiful places. But the crowd at every place is really grievous.
Enjoyed the vivid description of the journey . Thank you so much for sharing fantastic photographs of beautiful places.
Enjoyed the vivid description of the journey . Thank you so much for sharing fantastic photographs of beautiful places. But the crowd at every place is really grievous. Rabindranath Tagore wrote in his poem ‘দাও ফিরে সে অরণ্য, লও এ নগর'(Give us back the sylvan past, take away modern urbanization). We should remember that.
[…] Our Journey to Badrinath Temple and Night stay at Mana village-last village of India in 2024 […]
Interesting, keep it up!
You were a part of my journey. Stay blessed.
Enjoyed the vivid description of the journey. Thank you so much for sharing fantastic photographs of beautiful places. But the crowd at every place is really grievous. That reminds me a poem named ‘সভ্যতার প্রতি'( To civilization)written by Rabindranath Tagore. The poem starts as ‘দাও ফিরে সে অরণ্য, লও এ নগর ‘ (Give us back the sylvan past, take away modern urbanization). Hope human being will realize that.
Got a clear idea about Pancha Kedar and Sapta Badri. The energy for trekking at this age is really surprising. Photographs are excellent. I believe Badrinarayanji will give you Darshan next time.
nice blog
wonderful blog
Thank you for liking my blog.
Very Good
Thank you for liking my blog.
We are comfertable and happiness travelling with you. you are such a good person and thanking for your support everytime. Intrested every time for nature and deply understand for our nature. Thankyou you choose me.
Thank you Pradeep for your company. Stay blessed.
[…] Our Journey to Badrinath Temple and Night stay at Mana village-last village of India in 2024 […]