Gangotri, Yamunotri opening rituals to be held on April 26
The deadly coronavirus has also affected the “muhurat” for the Char Dham yatra. The Yamunotri and Gangotri will initiate the annual opening rituals on April 26, but the opening of the customary “Kapaat” (doors) to invoke the Lords at Kedarnath and Badrinath is still mired in uncertainty.
With all means of transportation suspended due to the lockdown, the Home Ministry has allowed the head priests to travel by road after the Uttarakhand Government wrote to the Centre, Kerala and Karnataka Governments, from the native places of Rawals, the priests.
The Rawals, descendants of Adi Shankaracharya who established both the shrines, are in charge of the daily obeisance of the Lord Shiva at Kedarnath and Lord Vishnu at Badrinath for almost six months from April/May to October/ November every year. When the snow sets in Himalayas during the winter the replica of idols are relocated at Joshimath (winter abode of Badrinath) and Ukhimath (winter abode of Kedarnath) through a procession and between the nominated priests perform the daily puja while Rawals go back to their native places.
The Uttarakhand Government’s request to fly the priests by a special chartered flight from down south to Uttarakhand was declined by Home Ministry.
Now, the State Governments are coordinating to facilitate travel by roads for Rawals in a day or two. The manual of the Covid-19 vehicle usage will be followed accordingly so that each vehicle has only two occupants.
The head priest (Rawal) of the Kedarnath temple belongs to the Veerashaiva jangam community from the village Banuvalli of Taluka Harihar of Davanagere district in Karnataka while head priest Rawal of clan Namboodari of Badrinath temple belongs to Kerala.
As per schedule given by the Royal family, Kedarnath is to be opened on April 29 while Badrinath the following day. But as per Government Covid-19 guidelines, the Rawals will have to be under mandatory 14 days quarantine as they enter Uttarakhand.
The Badri-Kedar Trust has opposed this, arguing that the Rawals are always “quarantined” as they are not touched by anyone round the year, whether they are in the sanctum santorum or in a retreat.
“They do all their chores themselves even cooking as per the custom. Why do they need to be quarantined? Even if it’s delayed, only the Rawals will perform the opening of both the religious place. The dates can be reshuffled as has happened a couple of times in the past when the priests could not reach on time,” an official of BKT told The Pioneer over phone.
The Uttarakhand Government is digging into pages of temples’ manual to verify the claims of BKT whether the dates can be changed. A senior State Government official, however, confided that they are also talking with the Royal families of Tehri to nominate someone (as has happened in last four occasions) to perform the opening of doors rituals of both the holy shrines.
“Even if the Kapat are opened, it will not be thrown open for the pilgrims until the lockdown is lifted. For Kedarnath only 12 persons will be allowed and at Badrinath 20 of them will be allowed to take the procession from Joshimath and Ukhimath to the shrines,” said the official.
The doors of Kedarnath temple will be opened on April 29, 2020 at 6.10 am in the morning with special puja in the temple by the Rawals while Badrinath Temple will be open on April 30 at 04.30 am and pujas are carried out by Rawal’s assistants on his instructions as per the thousand year old tradition.
The Kedarnath shrine, which is dedicated to Lord Shiva, is said to be more than 1,200 years old. It was built by Adi Shankaracharya and is among one of the 12 jyotirlingas in India.
A visit to the Kedarnath temple is an integral part of the famous Char Dham Yatra in Uttarakhand. The yatra (pilgrimage) also includes visits to shrines like Gangotri, Yamunotri and Badrinath. All four shrines are located in the Garhwal division of Uttrakhand.