Hello everyone,
Today I will tell you about a place that has so much scenic beauty and too much of religious atmosphere, "Gangotri". I visited Gangotri at 21st May. The place was so much beautiful and I was completely astonished by the scenic beauty prevailing there.
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The tiny village of Gangotri is full of giant deodars and conifers. On right
bank of Bhagirathi is the holy temple of Ganga, whilst on the left bank
there are a few ashrams and shops which sell the religious items.
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How Ganga Descended From Heaven
The great task of bringing the Ganga on Earth started. Anshuman failed and so did his son Dilip, but the grandson Bhagirath was very determined, who meditated at Gangotri. After several years of intense meditation, the Ganga descended from Heaven and remained in suspense in the coils of Shiva's hair. After that Bhagirath meditated to please Shiva and then he released the Ganga as three main streams on earth, out of which one came on earth in form of Bhagirathi.
It is believed by prople that one who takes a "holy dip" in teh Ganga at Gangotri, all sins done by him are cleansed away by the holy waters of Ganga.
Now the photography at Gangotri temples was strictly restricted so, I could not take the photographs of the main temples there but some of the side temples' photographs are present here.
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This is the portrait of Lord Hanuman, the temple built alongside the main
temple of maa Ganga
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Puja at Temple of Ganga
At Gangotri, Puja is offered to Gangaji. This is performed both in the temple and on the bank of the river. All puja are preceded by a holy bath in the river. The Pujaris are brahmins from the village of Mukhwa, a village close to Gangotri. Every ten of them are selected in rotation to take the charge of all the functions concerning the temple.
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This is the holy water of Bhagirathi and the left side bank where some dharamshalas are present for the stay of people
who intend to stay at Gangotri. The water in Gangotri was crystal pure and was sizzling cold, seeing the tremendous flow of water it was advisable by people there not to go beyond a certain point there at bhagirathi.
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| This is a tableau that is built at Gangotri. It depicts the pleasing of Lord Shiva by King Bhagirathi and then releasing of Ganga by Lord Shiva from the coils of his hair. |
GAUMUKH - The glistening Galcier
Gaumukh is known as the glacier form where the Bhagirathi emerges. It is set at 18 Km from Gangotri where one has to reach while trekking. Special permissions are needed for reaching to Gaumukh by the health department prevailing there. Unfortunately I could not arrange them, so I was not allowed to trek there. Well that was because of the rainfall that occurred in the region the previous night, and so it was not safe to trek there.
Main temple at Gangotri. Outer view of temple as Photography was prohibited inside the temple.
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| This is the temple of Bhairav Baba. It is situated at a distance of around 10 Km from Gangotri in Bhairoghati. The belief prevailent there is the visigt to dham Gangotri is not successful until you visit Bhairon Mandir. |
The life of people at Gangotri is very much harsh. The person that is shown in the picture below depicts the life of people there. When I interviewed him he told me that he walks daily about 16 Km from his village in mountains to feed his sheep, such a long herd and one man to maintain them. This is his daily schedule to feed his family as the only source to his income is the wool that he gets from his sheep.
That's all for the day. Now all my blogs are late due to the network connectivity problem that I was getting there in mountains with my mts net. So, I will post all my experiences day by day as I complete them on my blog.
Thank You
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