The Chota Chardham of Uttarakhand is one of the most popular and spiritual Hindu Pilgrimages in our country. These are the places where the four most holy sites of Uttarakhand exist, including Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri. When and how these places were connected in a pilgrim route is unclear. Each one of these places has its unique and legendary history. Therefore, each location’s value and mysticism allowed them to form a sacred pilgrimage, i.e., Chota Chardham.
Until the 1950s, this pilgrimage of visiting these four sacred places was very tedious as one had to trek through the hilly trails on foot. After the Indo-China War of 1962, India laid emphasis on building transportation systems and a sound framework of the facilities at the border areas. Now, the once-long journeys would become shorter due to the ease of road accessibility in the holy sites. Let’s have a look at the Chota Chardham temples.
Yamunotri Dham
Yamunotri Dham marks the source of River Yamuna – India’s second holiest river. Situated in Uttarkashi District of Uttarakhand, Yamunotri Dham serves as an initial stop on the Chota Chardham pilgrimage and folk belief suggests that swimming in its water can cleanse of sins as well as guard from unnecessary or accidental deaths. Around the temple are many sources of hot water, especially Surya Kund, which is the most significant. The devotees cook rice and potatoes by putting them in the kund, which they take as a Prasad of the devi. You can book Chota Chardham Yatra Package from Haridwar to visit via road.
The story goes on to say that Yamuna is Sun’s daughter and the twin sister of Yama, who is the god of death. Sage Asit Muni is believed to have dwelled here and bathed in both the Ganga and the Yamuna. In the later years, when he was old and weak and could not make it to Gangotri, a stream of Ganga started to flow across the stream of Yamuna. You need to trek for a distance of 6 km to reach the temple. Alternatively, the Chota Chardham yatra by Helicopter services makes it easy to reach all the Chardham temples.
Gangotri Dham
Gangotri Dham was constructed to honor Goddess Ganga, whom it is said came down from heaven to cleanse humans of all their sins. Ganga began at Gaumukh, which forms its source; 18 km later, Gangotri is where its glacier begins. Gangotri is worshipped at Uttarkashi Dham in Uttarakhand, where its original structure was constructed by Gurkha General Amar Singh Thapa, who built it back in the 19th Century.
Once, King Sagar performed an Ashwamedha Yajna, and his 60,000 sons participated. Unfortunately, one horse got loose; when this occurred, they chased it to Sage Kapila’s Ashram, where it caused much disturbance as he meditated deep within himself and chased after it as well! This greatly disturbed Kapila, who was deep within meditation himself! Under anger, Kapila opened his fiery eyes, which converted all 60 thousand sons into ashes. Following Kapila’s suggestion, Anshuman (Sagar’s grandson) began worshipping and praying to Ganga, beseeching her to descend on earth to wash away the ashes of his relatives and further offering them salvation. Anshuman couldn’t succeed in his aim. Yet, it was his grandson, Bhagirath, whose rigorous meditation impressed Ganga to come down to the earth. To avoid the destruction of the world by the mighty force of the Ganga, Lord Shiva tied the Ganga and distributed the water into several streams.
Kedarnath Dham
Nestled close to the district of Rudraprayag, Uttarakhand, Kedarnath is the most remote and hard-to-attain for pilgrims of the Chota Chardham as compared to other pilgrimage centers. It is a belieft that the Pandava brothers built the original temple of Kedarnath. Adi Shankaracharya built the present structure in the 8th century at its present site near the old temple. Adi’s grey stone architecture stands as an outstanding piece, thanks to its majestic design and ability to endure harsh conditions for so many centuries.
When the Pandavas identified him, he disappeared under the ground. The parts of the Lord came up at different points. This includes the hump at Kedarnath, arms at Tunganath, navel at Madhya-Maheshwar, face at Rudranath, and hair at Kalpeshwar. These five temples collectively is Panch-Kedar.
Badrinath Dham
Badrinath is one of the most prominent pilgrimage places in Hinduism and the last temple of Chota Chardham. One of the 108 Divya Desams, Badrinath temple is a part of both Char Dham and Chota Char Dham. Adi Shankaracharya discovered the idol of Lord Badri from the Alaknanda River. He was worshipping it in a cave near the Tapt Kund region. In the 16th century, a Garhwal King established a temple, which had been brought down by forces caused by natural disasters many times.
According to one of the legends, a sage criticized the way Lord Vishnu enjoyed his life. After that, Vishnu decided to meditate and atone in this way. His wife, Goddess Laxmi, transformed herself into a tree with berries. This offered shade to him from the harsh sunlight and the rest of nature. Another holy story mentions that Badrinath is the sacred land of Shiva. But Vishnu lured Shiva out of the space so that he could establish himself instead.
Conclusion
This is all about the Chota Chardham Yatra temples of Uttarakhand. These temples hold great religious significance and importance and every year millions of pilgrims plan this Yatra. So book your Yatra for 2024 with LIH Travel.
