It is quite inevitable that a State that is known by the name of “Devbhumi” will attract the devout to its innumerable shrines but Uttarakhand is possibly the only State in the country which has several pilgrimages underway simultaneously from May to October.
For six months, undeterred by heavy rain, cloudbursts and land slides, lakhs of “yatris” head towards the Hill State, much like Chaucer’s pilgrims headed for Canterbury. But while his pilgrims began their journey in Springtime, pilgrims begin arriving here in summer and the last batches depart from the State in October-November. The six months of yatras boost the hill economy and give an opportunity to traders to make hay while the sun shines.
From May begins the famous Char Dham Yatra consisting of the pilgrimage to Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath in the higher reaches of the Himalayas.
In June begin the Kailash-Mansarovar and Hemkund Sahib Yatras which carry on till late September. In “saawan”, the Neelkanth Yatra is another colourful event bringing thousands of Shiva devotees at the picturesque “Neelkanth Mahadev” shrine in the Garhwal (Pauri) Himalayas as the “Kanwar” yatra begins in July and a stream of “Shivbhaktas” performs “Jalabhishek” on the sacred Shivling at Neelkanth.
The “jalabhishek” begins at dawn and carries on till the evening. While many of the devotees leave the shrine after paying homage, others stay back for a day or two. Till mid-August, “kanwarias” will move around in several parts of the Hill State, collecting “Gangajal” and performing poojas at various Shiva shrines in the region.
During the rainy season, when there is a dip in the number of “Char Dham” yatris in Uttarakhand, a flood of “Kanwarias” enters the State.
As soon as May arrives, it is the beginning of yatra time in Uttarakhand and pilgrims to Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, Yamunotri, Hemkund Sahib and Neeelkanth Mahadev are all heading for these famous shrines in the Garhwal Himalayas from May to November, thousands of pilgrims arrive in this hill region every day. The economy of most of the towns and villages on the yatra routes is dependent on pilgrim activity.
Every June, thousands of Sikh pilgrims arrive in Uttarakhand to pay homage at the famous shrine of Hemkund Sahib in the Garhwal Himalayas. The yatra to Hemkund Sahib concludes on October 5 every year. An important aspect of this challenging pilgrimage is that it physically and emotionally links Uttarakhand with its neighbour, Himachal Pradesh where Paonta Sahib, another Guru Gobind Singh shrine, is located just across the Uttarakhand-Himachal Pradesh border.
Pilgrims, mostly from Punjab, Delhi and Haryana, visit Paonta either before going up to Hemkund or on their way back from Hemkund. Every day, five thousand pilgrims are visiting both shrines these days as this is the peak time for the yatra. Big batches of young men on motorcycles can be seen on their way from Paonta to Hemkund which is an extremely long and arduous journey through the Uttarakhand hills. There is a Hemkund Gurudwara at Rishikesh where the pilgrims register themselves before leaving for Hemkund Sahib which lies in the Chamoli district, also home to the Badarinath shrine.
Hemkund lake near the Gurudwara is encircled by seven snow clad peaks and reflects them beautifully on its crystal- clear serene waters. The glaciers from Hathi Parvat and Saptrishi peaks feed the lake and a small stream called Himganga flows out of this lake. Guru Gobind Singh wrote in one of his works that he had meditated on the bank of this lake in one of his earlier births. The site was discovered by a Sikh Havaldar, Sohan Singh and became a major pilgrimage centre only after 1930.
The yatra season comes to an official close with the closure of the portals of the famous Vishnu shrine of Badrinath in Chamoli in the Garhwal Himalayas for the winter. With its closure, the “Char Dham” yatra comes to an end officially. An interesting aspect linked to the closing ceremony of the Badrinath shrine is that a woollen “choli “ woven by the girls of the Mana village ,the last Indian village before Tibet, which is placed on the deity before the temple is closed. It is taken off on the opening day and its fibres distributed among the yatris as “mahaprasadam”.
The “Utsav Moorti” of the Badrinath temple is brought down in a “Doli”, in a colourful procession down the hills, to Narsingh Temple in Joshimath where lord Badrinath is worshipped in winter.