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At around 12,500 ft, Tunganath Temple (one of the Panch Kedars) is titled as the HIGHEST TEMPLE in the WORLD. However though Wikipedia title claims so but in the text it is written as the highest Shiv Temple in the World. I for one know that there is a Laxman Temple in Hemkund Sahib at 15,000 ft plus altitude. But then its probably not as "established" a temple as Tunganath.
Controversies apart I take it as the highest temple in the World involving a short 3.5 km steep uphill trek / pony ride. So reaching it would have been a milestone in itself and I definitely got tempted to revisit my favourite Devbhoomi Gahrwal for probably the 20th time, but after a gap of 7 long years.
One of the five Kedars, the temple originates to the Pandavas, but was said to be found in its present avataar by adi Guru Sankaracharya. Relegion and spirituality apart Tunganath is one of the most scenic places I have visited. Here is a curtain raiser..
But Kolkata to Tunganath and back is a story in itself and had numerous famous locations in between. We first hit upon the magnificent Taj Mahal in Agra. Regarded as the most outstanding sculpture of ancient history, it is said to be the ultimate monument of love. Shah Jahan probably could not have biult it better..
Next in our line came the Gateway to Devbhoomi, Haridwar. The Ganga is passed through a canal (while the main river lazes through a km from the main town) which washes one of the holiest spots in its course that is Har Ki Pauri..
As we climbed the mountains we decided to have a halt in Rudraprayag the holy sangam of Alakananda and Mandakini. Mandakini originates from Kedarnath while Alakananda originates from Badrinath and the latter continues to meet Bhagirathi in Devprayag to form the Ganga..
The final destination Ukhimath, the winter abode of two of the five Kedars, Kedarnath itself and Madyamaheshwar. From here we went up to Chopta / Tunganath and came back for the night halt..
On the return journey it was Rishikesh which a lot of people just pass through. But in my umpteen visits to Devbhoomi I have always held it in highest regard and this time was no different..
And of course the last bastion of the Awadh Nawabs, Lucknow. Lucknow has 3 classified regimes worth seeing. One the modern capital of UP, then the one biult by the Britishers and the third one belonging to the Nawabs. We decided to give the first two a miss given the time constraints and concentrate on the Nawabi Awadh..
The last halt was a technical night halt, but I chose it very judiciously. Sasaram was it and this was my own way of paying respects to Sher Shah who lies buried here. History says that he was the only ruler who actually dented the Mughal Dynasty at its prime from which they could not recover till before his death. Administratively he is the father of what we call the first highway in India the Grand Trunk Road. So just passing the place was not on and we gave our final halt here to offer our humble regards..
WE comprised of me, my wife, my 4 year old son, my friend Partha and his wife..
And of course the hero, and the main constituent of the WE was the XYLO, which withstood the assault and abuse of all sorts for 13 days and 3927 km, but displayed unshakeable spirit as it has always done in previous trips..
The story to follow..
Controversies apart I take it as the highest temple in the World involving a short 3.5 km steep uphill trek / pony ride. So reaching it would have been a milestone in itself and I definitely got tempted to revisit my favourite Devbhoomi Gahrwal for probably the 20th time, but after a gap of 7 long years.
One of the five Kedars, the temple originates to the Pandavas, but was said to be found in its present avataar by adi Guru Sankaracharya. Relegion and spirituality apart Tunganath is one of the most scenic places I have visited. Here is a curtain raiser..
But Kolkata to Tunganath and back is a story in itself and had numerous famous locations in between. We first hit upon the magnificent Taj Mahal in Agra. Regarded as the most outstanding sculpture of ancient history, it is said to be the ultimate monument of love. Shah Jahan probably could not have biult it better..
Next in our line came the Gateway to Devbhoomi, Haridwar. The Ganga is passed through a canal (while the main river lazes through a km from the main town) which washes one of the holiest spots in its course that is Har Ki Pauri..
As we climbed the mountains we decided to have a halt in Rudraprayag the holy sangam of Alakananda and Mandakini. Mandakini originates from Kedarnath while Alakananda originates from Badrinath and the latter continues to meet Bhagirathi in Devprayag to form the Ganga..
The final destination Ukhimath, the winter abode of two of the five Kedars, Kedarnath itself and Madyamaheshwar. From here we went up to Chopta / Tunganath and came back for the night halt..
On the return journey it was Rishikesh which a lot of people just pass through. But in my umpteen visits to Devbhoomi I have always held it in highest regard and this time was no different..
And of course the last bastion of the Awadh Nawabs, Lucknow. Lucknow has 3 classified regimes worth seeing. One the modern capital of UP, then the one biult by the Britishers and the third one belonging to the Nawabs. We decided to give the first two a miss given the time constraints and concentrate on the Nawabi Awadh..
The last halt was a technical night halt, but I chose it very judiciously. Sasaram was it and this was my own way of paying respects to Sher Shah who lies buried here. History says that he was the only ruler who actually dented the Mughal Dynasty at its prime from which they could not recover till before his death. Administratively he is the father of what we call the first highway in India the Grand Trunk Road. So just passing the place was not on and we gave our final halt here to offer our humble regards..
WE comprised of me, my wife, my 4 year old son, my friend Partha and his wife..
And of course the hero, and the main constituent of the WE was the XYLO, which withstood the assault and abuse of all sorts for 13 days and 3927 km, but displayed unshakeable spirit as it has always done in previous trips..
The story to follow..
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