Travelling in the Garhwal region always amazes us. It has full of histories as well as mysteries. If you are fond of any of these, then we guess you have arrived at the right place. Today, we will take you all for a memorable trip to Dhari Devi Temple and Haridwar before we sign off our Char Dham Yatra.
In case you don’t know who we are………..
We call ourselves Travel Freaks……..
Before we share our experience, let us start with your curiosity……….
1. What is so special about Dhari Devi Temple?
Honestly speaking, we didn’t plan to visit Dhari Devi Temple. When we were Badrinath, one of the locals referred to Dhari Devi Temple and how pious the temple was. After that, we learned the mystery of the temple.
This temple is considered a guardian of the land and is located on the Alakananda River. Moreover, our curiosity to visit Dhari Devi Temple increased when we learned that the temple was relocated in 2013 for a project. The locals felt the relocation led to the heavy flood that took place soon after.
All these beliefs increased our excitement. Now you might be thinking…….
2. How are we planning to reach the Dhari Devi Temple?
Returning to our story, we had a memorable experience at the Yamunotri Temple, the Gangotri Temple, the Kedarnath Temple and the Badrinath Temple; it was time for us to sign off our trip on a high.
In case you haven’t read any of our Char Dham blogs, checkout to know our experiences. You will be able to plan your itinerary. If you have any difficulty, you can always reach out to us.
We were at Badrinath; our stay at Bharat Sevashram was quite close to the Badrinath Temple. As we planned to visit the Dhari Devi Temple, our stay manager suggested a night stay at the Kaliyasaur Bharat Sevashram, which was close to the Dhari Devi Temple. Accordingly, we decided to halt for a night stay and then depart for Haridwar.
Dhari Devi Temple is located in the Kaliyasaur village in the Pauri Garhwal District. It was approximately 175 km from our stay at Badrinath. We departed sharply at 7:00 AM after having a light breakfast. It took us 7 hours to reach the village of Kaliyasaur.
On the way, we did stop at Joshimath, which was hardly 45 km. It took us one hour to reach. Initially, we planned to visit Auli, but unfortunately, maintenance activities were happening for the cable car. You can understand we were pretty upset with that. We moved towards Kaliyasaur Village. We did stop at a few places for tea breaks, and when it was close to 2:30 PM, we reached our stay.
Now many of our readers might be eager to know…….
3. What is the best way to reach the Dhari Devi Temple?
The best thing is that it is about 15 km to Srinagar and hardly 20 km to Rudraprayag. Anyone visiting the Char Dham Yatra will be bound to pass this route.
Of course, you can also reach directly from Rishikesh, which is 125 km away. If you reach by flight, the nearest airport is the Dehradun Airport, i.e., Jolly Grant Airport, which is close to 140 km away.
The most important thing to know is that you need a proper permit to visit all the Char Dham. Please click here and register yourself before planning your Char Dham Trip. Travellers can also opt for offline permission in Rishikesh.
Coming back to our story, now that we reached our stay at Kaliyasaur, our excitement level increased. After our lunch and short rest, we decided to explore the place and, most importantly, the temple.
Wait! Wait! We know what you are thinking…….
4. How was the experience at the Dhari Devi Temple?
It was hardly five o’clock in the evening when we left our stay. It took us about 5 minutes to reach the temple gate. We could see the temple premise from the top. The temple was located downhill in the middle of the Alakananda River.
There were few shuttle car services available that could drop us close to the temple. In our case, we decided to go downhill on our own. We suggest all elderly persons with knee problems hire the shuttle car services. The distance was about 200 metres, and the stairs were quite steep.
We did spot monkeys throughout the path leading to the temple. Kindly be careful if you are carrying any packets. Finally, we reached the temple after 15 minutes of walking on steep downhill stairs.
There were few souvenir shops in close proximity to the temple. As we entered the temple, we noticed a sudden change in the atmosphere. There were devotees sitting in front of the idol worshipping. We were taken aback when we noticed that there was no roof over the Dhari Devi Idol. It was the first time we noticed such a thing.
One of the devotees even informed us that Goddess Dhari Devi has two parts. We could see only the upper part. The lower part is worshipped in the form of Goddess Kali in the Kalimath Temple located in Rudraprayag. Another old lady was sitting there; it felt as if she worked there. She claimed that the idol changes her appearance daily, from a girl to a young woman and then to an old lady.
All these mysteries and stories created an eerie atmosphere. After spending over half an hour, we decided to explore the locality. There was a hanging bridge just beside the temple. We did cross the bridge and thought of exploring the village that was on the other side of the river. As dusk was around the corner, we decided to return to stay after walking uphill this time.
It was a pleasant night stay at the Kaliyasaur Bharat Sevasharm. There was no hustle-bustle of our busy city lives. We could hear the sound of crickets from outside. We had an early dinner as there was an early morning departure for our last destination the next morning.
Now many of you might have understood about our last destination from the blog title. Still, a few curious souls might wonder……..
5. How are we signing off our Char Dham Yatra?
We woke up early at 5:30 AM and gazed at the beauty of the place from our window. It was close to 7:30 AM when we departed from Kaliyasaur to Haridwar. It was about a 150 km journey. However, the journey was quite smooth, unlike what we have witnessed till then.
Haridwar is also considered the Gateway to the Char Dham Yatra. In fact, you can also opt to start your Char Dham Yatra from Haridwar instead how we started from Rishikesh.
On the way, we stopped at Dev Prayag, the confluence of the Alakananda and the Bhagirathi Rivers, to click a few snaps. Most importantly, River Ganga starts from Dev Prayag.
The time to reach Haridwar should have been about 5 hours. However, there was a long queue at Rishikesh that increased our time to reach our stay at Haridwar by two more hours. When it was close to three o’clock, we reached our stay at Haridwar.
Our stay was on the Roorkee-Haridwar Highway near the Kankhal crossing. It was about three km from the Haridwar Railway Station. You can also opt to stay close to the railway station also. There are numerous options available. We decided to stay there as we could easily hire any vehicle to reach the station. On the other hand, in case you are staying close to the market or any ghat, you have to walk before you can get any vehicle.
We thought to relax a bit in the evening and immerse ourselves in the nostalgia of the trip covered so far.
Many of you might be wondering…..
6. How long are we going to stay at Haridwar?
We planned to stay for two nights at Haridwar. The next day of our arrival, we got up a little late, by 7:30 AM. Yeah, it was too late as compared to the time we were waking up till then.
We hired an auto after having breakfast at nine o’clock that took us to local tourist attractions.
Initially, we visited the Pavan Dham. It was a temple with some intricate glasswork. Soon after, there was a temple run, and all of a sudden, we felt lost as we saw many, many temples. We visited the Ram Temple, the Bharat Mata Temple, the Daksheswara Mahadev Temple, the Maya Devi Temple and a few Ashrams. It was indeed the first time we saw so many temples in one go.
We would also like to inform our readers that apart from the aforesaid temple, two more temples, the Mansa Devi Temple and the Chandi Devi Temple, located on hilltops, are quite popular. You can either take the cable car or walk to reach the top. As we had a past experience with these temples, we decided to skip them.
In the evening, we were pretty excited to catch a glimpse of the evening aarti (a fire is lit up to worship the River Ganga) at the iconic Har Ki Pauri. The timing is generally 6:30 PM in the summer season and 5:30 PM in the winter season. As it was summer season, we reached by five o’clock in the evening. To our utter surprise, we saw a huge sea of people already taken their seats by the riverside.
Finally, the time arrived when the aarti started. Everyone stood up, and with a little difficulty, we enjoyed the evening aarti. It was a truly memorable end to our trip.
On the next, we had our train in the late evening. In the morning, we decided to leave for shopping. There were many shops with reasonable rates in close proximity to the Har Ki Pauri Ghat. It is always better to bargain to get better rates. We purchased shawls, blankets and a few souvenirs for our friends.
If anyone wishes to visit Char Dham or anywhere in India or Nepal, they can click here and explore the various itineraries available on their site. They provide affordable budget packages.
Now that you have got to know about our Char Dham Yatra, we hope you can also plan your own; in case you feel you need our help, we are always there with just a click away.
One last thing before we sign out……
7. What kind of help are we gonna provide?
Let us inform you that we prepare itineraries not only for anywhere in India but also for Asia. We have been travelling since we were toddlers. So here in our blogs and stories, we will be giving you a glimpse of our journey and helping you plan your trip.
Read about our Uzbekistan blogs.
Read about our Kazakhstan blogs.
Read about our Singapore blogs.
Read about our Vietnam blogs.
Read about our Cambodia blogs.
Read about our Bali blogs.
Read about our Kuala Lumpur blog series.
Read about our Sri Lanka blogs.
Read about our Nepal blogs.
Read about our Char Dham blogs.
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Read about our day trip to Hyderabad.
Read about our Madhya Pradesh blogs.
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by mitkau