Now we felt like we knew how to travel in India. We hired a taxi to go to Haridwar from the TTD fecility. Before we left Hrishikesh, we visited the Sri Venkateswara Temple and The Chandramowleeswara Temple many times. I mentioned about these two at the beginning of my yatra. We sponsored special poojas, purchased Telugu panchangams, books etc at the SV Temple.
The taxi being local. rate sounded very reasonable. The driver was very cordial and knew where he was going. Mind you, the conversation in Hindi was still controlled by my two companions. The roads were good. we passed many statues of Shiva, Hanuman etc along the road. They were really huge. Our goal was to go to the Chandi and Maansa devi temples.
Haridwar is one of the seven most sacred places in India. And this is where every twelve years, the Kumbha mela takes place. The other places are Prayag (Allahabad), Nasik and Ujjain. This is another of my wishes - to attend a Kumbha mela. In many of these places that we toured so far, non-vegetarian food and alcohol bevereges are prohibited.
Chandi Devi Temple is on the top of Neel Parvat and is located at about 6 kms from Haridwar. One can see the town of Haridwar from the top of the hill. It is one of the siddha peethas. It was built by Suchat Singh, the king of Kashmir in 1929. From Haridwar, one can take a bus, an auto or a taxi. But, to reach the main shrine, one can trek 3 kms from Chandighat or take a cable car. We took the cable car, which was a little scary and adventurous for me.
Again, Adi Shankara established the idol of the Goddess Chandi here in the 8th century. The temple legend says that two demons Shumbha and Nishumbha captured the kingdom of Lord Indra (I can't believe that some demon or the other always had his eyes on Indra's kingdom !!!). There was a lot of havoc in heaven. Chandi Devi emerged from the Goddess Parvati to end the demon kings. The goddess took rest at this place for some time and since then this place was considered sacred.
It is said that Goddess Chandi fulfills all the wishes of her devotees.
A temple of Anjana Devi (Mother of Lord Hanuman) is also situated within 200 meters from this shrine. We went there first. Chandi Devi is one of the most ancient temples of India and is very beautiful inside and outside. We enjoyed the panoramic view of the natural beauty by taking the cable car.
It was too late to visit Maansa Devi Temple. That was disappointing.
We had time to stop at a roadside lassi shop recommended by our driver. The lassi was great - loaded with calories and had supply of cholesterol enough for 6 months.
Our next halt was at the Sivananda's ashram. One must visit this place. Very serene. The meditation room was charged with calming energy. The bhajan hall was filling up with people. But, we could not stay for any activity. We wanted to have Swami Chidananda's darsan. Even that did not happen - we were told that no visitors were allowed. He had very little mobility, I guess. My husband and I recalled His visit to our home in 1978 when we lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin area. He was such a great being, yet so humble.
After this, we returned to our room to get ready to our next adventure - taking a taxi from Rishikesh to Delhi and a train to Varanasi from Delhi. We were not nervous since Nirmala had arranged for our domestic travel long long ago.
No comments:
Post a Comment