TUNGANATH

The Five Kedars

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• Tunganath: 3,810 m
• Kedarnath: 3584 m
• Madmaheswar: 3289 m
• Rudranath: 2286 m.
• Kalpeshwar: 2134 m.

This is the note of a traveller and is being provided as it is..

You can complete details of the author's experience here,from which this information has been taken.

Tunganath

               

One of the five Kedars, Tunganath, at a height of 3865mts nested in the Garhwal range of the Himalayas, is the highest temple in the world..

Kedar and Badri are connected by a route, which breaks off from Kund (in the Rudraprayag - Kedar route) and connects to Chamoli (in the Rudraprayag – Badri route) through Ukhimath, Chopta, Mandal and Gopeswar. About 70 kms from Kund is Chopta. The trek to Tunganath starts from here.

The route to the Tunganath temple is not very arduous. Reaching Rishikesh from Delhi is just problem free. One can also go up to the Jolly Grant airstrip near Dehradun by an occasional plane. From Rishikesh, one can easily reach Karnaprayag and then Gopeshwar (212 km from Rishikesh). From there, on Gopeshwar-Ukhimath road, lies picturesque chatti of Chopta, which also serves as the base for the Tunganath temple. From Chopta, an ascending trek of three km. takes one to the temple of Tunganath. The elevated journey instils a sense of fulfilment..

From Rishikesh there are buses or other vehicles for Chopta via Karnaprayag and Gopeshwar. From Chopta its an uphill trek of 3.5 km. The distance isn’t much but in those few km you’ll ascend several altitudes. From Ukhimath, the summer abode of Kedarnath, one can reach Chopta . The road to Chopta from Ukhimath is roughly 30 kms of verdant pine forests. The overhangs of the jungle couldn’t screen the occasionally peeping cobalt sky and the glorious peaks in total contrast to the blue.

The Beauty of the Journey

       The beauty of the Himalaya is always beyond imagination and poetry. Chopta (42 km from Gopeshwar) is situated at a height of 12,000 ft from sea level. Though a scenic spot neglected by the tourism department, greenery around Chopta is in abundance, perhaps because the place is also called Cherapoonji of Uttarakhand. However, the tourist rest house owned by the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) is a boon to the traveller. But a larger infrastructure needs to be developed there.

Dugalbitha is just at a distance of seven km from Chopta. A government bungalow there is available for the tourists on permit. A little ahead is Sari village from where an ascension of two km takes one to Deoriyataal or lake (8,000 ft) in which an image of mammoth Chaukhambha is quite awesome and inspiring.

The trek from panoramic Chopta to Tunganath is between three to four km. but in that distance one ascends several hundred feel. The feeling of uplift strengthens one to gaze at the ranges and the valleys for hours. The time seems to freeze here endlessly. Myriads of wild flowers and especially the blooming rhododendrons in summer heal the fatigued soul. Besides, dense oak and deodar forests, Alpine pastures, mountain ranges, diverse flora and fauna, and above all perpetual tranquillity drain out the human worries.

One can see the Himalayan ranges in their awesome avatar from this place except in case of clouds and rains, which are in plenty there. Weather is so uncertain that by the time you take a decision to make a move, there is rain or thunders.

Nevertheless, among the peaks and peaks and among the clouds and the clouds, there are moods and moods of Mother Nature. The environment is so hypnotic and mystic that nobody bothers to think about the worldly things. One can only find him or her under a spell of divine spell wondering how and why the mountains invoke divinity in the mortal beings.

The place looks like a perfect wilderness. On reaching Tunganath, at a height of 13,072 feet from the sea level and below Chandrashila peak, one finds nothing between earth and the sky except rocks. The 50-feet something high ancient temple is the highest Shiva shrine in the region.

In Tunganath, very ordinary facilities are available but irrespective of that more than 10,000 pilgrims and tourists visit this divine place every year either to pay their obeisance to Lord Shiva or to just experience the panoramic views from the place. As you keep moving around, the multitude of clouds flicker touching your body and purified soul. This is how Hinduism comes closest to being a nature religion.

A little ahead of the Tunganath temple is Chandrashila or mountain of the Moon. The place is wrapped in mysticism where one is completely lost, perhaps trying to redefine one's own existence and the meaning of the very existence. Harmony is most evident in these remote places, reminding every moment that here is a place after all where Gods and mountains co-exist.

The observation of Kalidasa, the great ancient Sanskrit poet, is pertinent here. He must have visited a place like Tunganath while making an observation that there was a mighty mountain in North (of India) by the name Himalaya, the abode of perpetual snows, fittingly called the Lord of Mountains, animated by Divinity as its soul and eternal spirit. Spanning the wide land from the eastern to the western sea, He stands as if were like the measuring rod of the earth.

From Chandrashila (14,000 ft), a very great section of the Himalaya is visible. Legend has it that Goddess Chandrama (Moon) had spent a long time here in a penance. Bandarpoonchh, Chaukhambha, Neelkanth, Nandadevi, and several other peaks are clearly visible from this place. Chaukhambha (25,000 ft) looks so close as if at an arm's distance. The peaks also remind one of the fables that they are the ladders to the heavens. Nandadevi is of course clouded most of the times. Besides, a large part of Garhwal is seen from here, far away valleys and all that that is the grandeur of Garhwal. On the background of Tunganath is Ravanashila, where Ravana is believed to have accomplished tapa or penance. Wild buffaloes are regularly is site there.

 

Duration -	06 days
Best Season -	Sep-Nov, Mar-May
Rating -	Easy
Min. participants-	06