Uttarakhand - Garhwal medley (destinations from Haridwar side)

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Uttarakhand Garhwal – destinations from Haridwar side

Har ki pairi in Haridwar

            This is the end of the year and due to bed ridden conditions of my mother, I am not able to move around as freely, as I used to in the past.  So while browsing through the my old blogs and videos, it suddenly struck my mind to generate a video of the destinations visited by me in Uttarakhand, which I have adopted as my second home that is to be my final resting place post retirement.  As one is aware that Uttarakhand is divided linguistically in two distinct divisions i.e. Garhwal & Kumaon.  Accordingly, I crafted a video of the destinations accessible in Garhwal and the first amongst them is the video depicting places that one can visit from Garhwal side –

          The video has been crafted especially to encourage tourism in the region and is a small effort from my side.  Since all these destinations have been personally visited by me and detailed blogs have been published by me, I am just providing the links in this medley to assist the visitors to chalk out their own programs.

Haridwar – 

Also known as the gateway to the Land of Gods, the holy Ganga River hits the plains of India for the first time at this destination and flows upto the Bay of Bengal.  Reverend by the Hindus from all over India & the world, this place holds a special place in every Hindu's life and his beliefs.  I have visited the destination many times and detailed description is in the blogs below - 

 i) https://ghummakar-biswas.blogspot.com/2011/12/haridwar-rishikesh-neelkanth-short.html

ii)         https://ghummakar-biswas.blogspot.com/2018/09/haridwar-gateway-to-land-of-gods-ganga.html

Rishikesh - 

Also known as the Yoga capital of the world, this tranquil little destination is about 25 odd kilometers from Haridwar and also the starting point for the famed Chardham destinations of Garhwal.  Resplendent with many small & big ashrams strewn across the holy Ganga River, it is also reverend by the Hindus from all walks of life.  I have visited this destination many times and it is summed up in m blog as follows -

https://ghummakar-biswas.blogspot.com/2018/01/rejuvenating-in-rishikesh.html

Yamunotri – 

The Chardham visit in Garhwal region of  Uttarakhand comprises of four major shrines and pilgrims make pilgrimage in a clock wise fashion.  Accordingly, the first destination visited is Yamunotri, which is a temple situated at the origin of River Yamuna.  One can read the details of the visit to the destination in the following blogs -

i) https://ghummakar-biswas.blogspot.com/2009/08/chardham-yatra-yamunotri.html;

ii) https://ghummakar-biswas.blogspot.com/2011/12/chardham-yamunotri-final-trek.html

Gangotri –

The second destination in the famed Chardham Yatra is held by the temple town of Gangotri that houses a temple dedicated to holy River Ganga and the famed Gomukh or Cow's mouth where from the holy River Ganga is said to emanate and this place is at a distance of 18 kilometers from Gangotri.  It is one of the most reverend destinations for Hindus and here is the link to my blogs about this destination (first part deals with the journey to the destination and second part about the destination itself) -

 i) https://ghummakar-biswas.blogspot.com/2011/12/towards-gangotri-chardham-yatra.html

ii) https://ghummakar-biswas.blogspot.com/2011/12/gangotri-visit-to-famed-shrine.html

Kedarnath - 

Now this destination has found more fame than ever because of the efforts of Hon'ble Prime Minister of India, Sh. Narendra Bhai Modi ji, it was devastated by an unprecedented climate related accident in the year 2013, this destination is also one of the famed Jyotirlinga's.  The blog of mine was crafted way back in 2007 and hence contains photographs of destinations long lost to the above mentioned devastation -

https://ghummakar-biswas.blogspot.com/2011/12/magnificent-kedarnath.html

Badrinath – 

One of the most reverend destination for Hindu's and one of the four Dhams recognized for Hindu pilgrimage, the others being Puri in Odissa, Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu and Dwarka in Gujrat.  This one of the first destinations to be visited by the author and that too in 2001 and hence the photographs (as above), where in the inner temple can be seen is not visible at present because of the outside facade and this had been damaged due to avalanche that had hit the temple during the same year's winters.  So some old pictures can be accessed alongwith details of the visit in the two series of blogs whose link has been provided for information - 

i) https://ghummakar-biswas.blogspot.com/2011/12/towards-badrinath.html

ii) https://ghummakar-biswas.blogspot.com/2011/12/badrinath-abode-of-gods-surrounding.html

© S Roy Biswas