Before we embark on my Char Dham trip, let me first tell you more about Char Dham.
Char Dham literally means Four holy places.
India is a land of holy places. Every city, every temple, every hill, every river will have something holy or spiritual associated with it. There are many places that are connected with each other spiritually too. These places collectively form a travel circuit. For example,
- 12 Jyothirlingams – These are 12 holy shrines spread across India dedicated to Lord Shiva. Read more here.
- 51 Shakthi peetas – 51 temples all over India (some even in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal) dedicated to Mother Goddess.
One such travel roundup is called Char Dham.
Actually, there are two Char Dhams, a bada char dham and a chota char dham.
The bada char dham or the big char dham is a trip covering 4 corners of India. Badrinath in the north, Rameshwaram in the South, Dwarka in the west and Puri in the east.
The trip that we undertook is the chota char dham, mostly called char dham. This circuit is entirely situated in the Uttarakhand region of India, high up in the Himalayas, in the Garhwal region.
The four principal holy places here are
- Yamunotri – the birthplace of river Yamuna. This is at a height of 3235 mts above sea level
- Gangotri – the birthplace of river Ganga, at a height of 3215 mts above sea level
- Kedarnath – one of the 12 jyotirlingas, dedicated to Lord Shiva. This is the highest of the four at 3553 mts above sea level
- Badrinath – dedicated to Lord Vishnu, situated at 3300 mts above sea level
Of these, the temples of Yamunotri and Kedarnath can only be reached after trekking. Vehicles cannot reach these peaks. Gangotri and Badrinath temples are more easily accessible.
These temples are high up in the Himalaya mountain range. The unique feature of these temples are that they are closed for half the year during winter months and open only for 6 months in summer. They open on the Akshay tritya day every year. This date is according to the lunar calendar so it will be a different date every year. Akshay tritiya is the 3rd day of the 2nd Hindu month of Vaishakha. It falls in the first half of the Vaishakha month. It is an auspicious day in the Hindu calendar.
In the winter, the main deities of Kedarnath and Badrinath are brought down from the peaks to lower ranges and the pujas are conducted there for the next six months.
En route to these shrines, we would also be visiting Haridwar, Rishikesh, Devaprayag, Rudraprayag, Uttarkashi and a few other places. Each of them is holy and awe inspiring at the same time.
Nice post. Rekindles some very fond memories.
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Thank-you Krishna
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Thank you for the detailed information, Meena. It is a delight to read your posts.
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Thank-you sonia. This encouragement is so heartening
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Wow Meena…You have covered this so well. Kedaranath must be beautiful. I’m so keen to visit sometime. Waiting for your pictures from the visit.
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You should! Pics will come
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So nicely explained n the whole scenes came in front of my eyes . Looking forward for more .
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Thanks ma’am
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I believe there are also Shaktipeeth in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Hinglaj is one such peeth. I was not aware of the bada and chotha char dham. Thanks for enlightening me. I am glad that I have travelled to 3 places from the bada char dham, Badrinath is the only one remaining.
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I did not know about one in Pakistan, Thanks for teaching me. I have done about 2 in the bada char dham. I hope one day to complete that too.
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Yes, akka. There is a Telugu movie (Sahasam) in fact based on that.
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Oh is it? Is the movie good?
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It’s an okay movie…one time watch
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That was an imformative post. Thank you
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Thanks Bhagyashree
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Didn’t know about Bada Char Dham – thanks for this post. Char Dham [ chota] is still on wish list- someday – wish to see these places. Nice take on letter C- What better than Char Dham can it be! too good.
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Thanks Viyoma. Yes, bada char dham is on my wish list too!
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ALways knew the Char Dham that has Gangotri, Yamunotri, Badrinath and Kedarnath. OtherCchar Dham, Bada Char Dham is the new discovery for me. Going by the places it covers, it appears to me that the Bada Char Dham is easy to undertake!
Thank you for easy to read, totally engrossing way of providing the information about Char Dham.
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Thank-you anagha!
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Happy Journey…
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Didn’t know about bada char dham. Hope I get to do that in the future. This series is really going to be very interesting to read!
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Thank-you Shashi
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I have heard so much about Jyothirlingas and Shakti Peetas but I learned so much more after reading this post. I had no idea about Char Dham before this. Looking forward to your posts. 🙂
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Thank-you shweta!
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🙂
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I’m so liking this Meena. Treasure of information on places that are close to the hearts of all Indians either as tourists or religiously oriented!!
Lage raho dear. 👍😊
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Thank-you!
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Visited char dham when I was 16 years old. I have some good memories of this place.
Had written you a mail asking about your whereabouts. Good to know that you are participating in the atoz.
Good theme.. Good luck Meena
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Sorry I missed the mail. Will check now Anshu. Missing you in a2z
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