Places of Interest in Uttrakhand (India)
उत्तराखंड (भारत )
Uttrakhand is one of the 29 states of India. It is situated in northern India and comprises of Pauri Garhwal, Tehri Garhwal, and Kumaon regions. Earlier it was included in the bigger state of Uttarpradesh but now it is a separate state having its own capital as Dehradun. It is surrounded by Shivalik hills in the south and Himalayas in the north. The people here are very simple in living and very courteous. Uttrakhand is rightly called as Devbhoomi ( देवभूमि Land of Gods) as you'll find divinity spread all around the place in the whole of Uttrakhand in the form of various temples dedicated to different Hindu gods and goddesses. Uttrakhand is very near to Delhi within the range of around 200 to 250 kms and hence is very popular among Delhiets. It attracts International as well as National tourists to its very scenic and serene places full of natural beauty. Hence the visitors include the tourists as well as Hindu devotees.
1. बद्रीनाथधाम Badrinath Dham:
Badrinath Dham is a place of worship with Badrinath Temple. It is located in the Himalayas and one can see white snow peaked himalayas from here all around the year. It is around 3100 meters above sea level. Devotees from the whole of India and abroad visit this temple to offer prayers to God Vishnu which is the presiding deity at this temple. This temple has a very ancient history as it mentioned in puranas also. Shankaracharya from south India established and reformed the various procedures of this temple. This is a sacred hindu worshiping place and not a tourist place. Hindus visit this place in thousands per day or even more. जय बद्री विशाल
2. केदारनाथधाम Kedarnath Dham:
Latitude: 30°44'7.08"N, Longitude: 79° 4'0.85"E
Kedarnath Dham is the place of Kedarnath Temple an ancient temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. It is situated at a height of 3500 meters from sea level. As with Badrinath Dham this place is also situated between the high peaks of Himalayas. It is very cold here in any season so anybody going there must be fully prepared as far as winter clothing is concerned. It is also a place of worship and not a tourist place. A very large number of Hindu pilgrims visit this temple daily. This area around this temple was totally devastated in the flash floods/avalanche in the year of 2013. But miraculously the temple structure did not suffer any major damage remained almost untouched by the mass devastation. It took some years after the 2013 flash floods to reopen it for the devotees, after cleaning the place of debris and road building etc. etc. This temple like Badrinath temple was also revived by Adi Shankaracharya. जय केदार
3. जागेश्वर Jageshwar
4. पाताल भुवनेश्वर Patal Bhuvaneshwar
Patal Bhuvaneshwar is a temple situated in Kumaon region of Uttrakhand. It is a cave deep under the ground in a mountain. The way through the above gate leads to small temple few meters away. Here you'll see a very small gate with iron grills on it. This small gate will lead you to the mouth of the cave. If you're going there for the first time and see the mouth of the cave you'll find it hard to digest that a person can go inside the cave unless you actually see other persons going inside the cave. You can also go inside the cave if you just follow the other people going inside the cave. Once again it is a place of worship and not a tourist destination but there is no ban on people visiting it out of shear curiosity but they must be Hindu devotees otherwise the temple committee may have objection. Show respect towards the Hindu gods and goddesses' representations present inside the cave. Here you can see many representations of gods, goddesses and their related events automatically carved by nature. You can easily reach here by road, so journey by car or by bus is quite possible (no trekking). You can also find cheap and middle range hotels and resorts also at Patal Bhuvaneshwar.
5. बड़ी दीबा मंदिर ( दीबा माता मंदिर ) Temple of Goddess Deeba
Deeba Temple is situated at a very high peak of Deeba Danda National Park at around 2500 meters above sea level. This national park is not so popular with the tourists or wildlife enthusiasts as the terrain is very difficult and no tourism development has take place in this region of Uttrakhand yet. But this temple is quite popular among the locals and from time to time they have been organising big prayers there in the form of a large pilgrimage. It is like a festival at that time. Thousands if not lakhs of devotees local as well as from far flung places participate in the big prayer event there in the temple at that time continuing for whole days together. There are very miraculous stories about Deeba Mata who used to warn Garhwali people about Gorkha forces approaching villages nearby during Gorkha invasion of Garhwal.
In near future this place may become popular tourist destination. You can reach there by taking national highway 121 through Ramnagar. On this highway you can reach upto a small Deeba temple on the road but the main Deeba Temple is on the peak about 5 Kms from this temple. You can reach the main Deeba Mata Temple by trekking only. Don't expect any kind of horse or mule service or any kind of hotel or restaurant facility near this temple, in fact you'll have to take your food or water along with you when you visit this temple as you can feel extremely thirsty on the way in the forest itself. So be prepared with water bottles and food stuff etc. Better go there in a big group with pure hearts and devotion otherwise anything can happen to you. Once you reach there at the top where temple is situated you'll feel you really achieved something very good. There you'll find no one at the temple but it is so peaceful, natural, cool and picturesque there at the top which is a little bit difficult to express in words. जय दीबा माता। दैणा हुईयां हे भगवती माता।
In near future this place may become popular tourist destination. You can reach there by taking national highway 121 through Ramnagar. On this highway you can reach upto a small Deeba temple on the road but the main Deeba Temple is on the peak about 5 Kms from this temple. You can reach the main Deeba Mata Temple by trekking only. Don't expect any kind of horse or mule service or any kind of hotel or restaurant facility near this temple, in fact you'll have to take your food or water along with you when you visit this temple as you can feel extremely thirsty on the way in the forest itself. So be prepared with water bottles and food stuff etc. Better go there in a big group with pure hearts and devotion otherwise anything can happen to you. Once you reach there at the top where temple is situated you'll feel you really achieved something very good. There you'll find no one at the temple but it is so peaceful, natural, cool and picturesque there at the top which is a little bit difficult to express in words. जय दीबा माता। दैणा हुईयां हे भगवती माता।
6. फूलों वाली घाटी Valley of Flowers
Latitude: 30°43'30.89"N, Longitude: 79°36'18.94"E
Valley of flowers is a national park and as the name and the picture clearly indicates is famous for its various kinds of natural flowers. It is situated at a height of 3000 to more than 4000 meters above sea level. Obviously it is a very big area and not like some small place. One has to do a trekking in the Uttrakhand mountains to reach here. So don't expect to reach there by train, car, bike, aeroplane etc. It is also situated between the snow peaked mountains of Himalayas hence is very cold of course. It is a place worth visiting, specially for people interested in trekking in Himalayas. So it is a heaven for trekkers. But beware of some flowers I've heard from one of my friend that some flowers can make you loose your consciousness if you smell them. So better not try to smell any flower which you are not fully aware of its properties.
