With the arrival of Spring, the hill State of Uttarakhand is gearing up for receiving the lakhs of pilgrims who visit its various well-known shrines between March and November every year. Despite the unprecedented natural calamity that hit Uttarakhand last year, there is no dip in the enthusiasm. People in the State are preparing to receive pilgrims from all over the country and abroad. The International Yoga Festival concluded on Monday and the State is proud to have hosted several people from all over the world at this unique annual event.
It is not that pilgrims do not come here in winter. Only in January was held the annual Urs at Piran Kaliyar which hosts the second biggest Urs (after Ajmer Shareef) in the country. But most of the pilgrimages begin only after winter takes leave. Grand preparations for the famous Jhanda Festival at Ram Rai Darbar in the Doon valley (beginning this year on March 21-22) have begun. It is evident in every crowded lane in the Jhanda Mohalla, deep in the heart of Dehradun’s old bazaar. Traders have geared up for the crowds that have begun pouring in even before Holi to pay obeisance at the Ram Rain durbar and to take part in the annual Jhanda Mela. Shops have been repainted and decorated, fresh stocks are displayed.
As they have been doing for the past three centuries, pilgrims move, in their lakhs, from various parts of northern India, predominantly from Delhi, Punjab and Haryana, towards Dehra Dun for this colourful event.
The mela is inseparably linked to the history of the city.In fact, it is related to the birth of the city of Dehra Dun and continues to be emblematic of its character and ethos. It was in the month of March,on the fifth day after Holi, in the year 1676 that Guru Ram Rai and his followers reached the area where the city is now located.It was also Ram Rai’s birthday on the day he arrived here.
Son of the seventh Sikh Guru Har Rai , Ram Rai fell from grace when he performed miracles in Aurungzeb’s court and deliberately misinterpreted lines from the Adi Granth to please the Mughal emperor. Pleased by Ram Rai’s performance, Aurungzeb had become his patron. One of the emperor’s friends, Raja Fateh Shah ,King of Garhwal, allotted some land in the Doon valley to Ram Rai. Removed from the line of Sikh Gurus, Ram Rai decided to establish his “dera” or camp here. Hence the name of the town that grew up around the camp and soon began to expand with the large number of devotees of Ram Rai who began arriving in large numbers from Punjab..
Ram Rai’s followers started their own traditions, separate from Sikhism. His followers have been known as Udasis or Ram Raiyyas and they follow the “Sanatani” way of life, worshipping the “Mahants “ who successively occupied Ram Rai’s “Gaddi” after his death.. The present Mahant is Devendra Das.
Once this mela is over, preparations for the famous “Char Dham” yatra will begin with the Yamunotri , Gangotri,Badrinath and Kedarnath shrines reopening in early May. Besides the “Char Dham “ yatra , Uttarakhand offers several other religious destinations like Haridwar, Rishikesh, Hemkund Sahib, Piran Kaliyar, Jageshwar Dham , Adi Kailash , the “Panch Badris” and the “Panch Kedars”.
The last batches of pilgrims depart in November. The eight months of yatras boost the hill economy . 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 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.