Danda Nagraj Temple Pauri Garhwal --By Ramu Kanchi

Ramu

I heard a lot about this temple thru one of my friend from Pauri Garhwal area, so I decided to visit the temple at any cost. After my visit I felt that the visit was a worth more than that I expected.

This is lord srikrishna temple, when god came to Uttaranchal first time, came in the snake form by crawling and reached to the ridge of the hill hence this temple named as “Danda Nagraj Temple”. People in this area strongly believe that real god is staying here and so powerful, if you pray here sincerely, your wish will be fulfilled. Every year in April month the famous “Kauthig” is celebrated here. This temple is situated in top of hill in plane area with ample space around the temple, also you will observe some thousands of bells are tied in the temple premises by devotees who’s wish is fulfilled. Also you will find the devotees are offering jaggery (gur) sweet as prasad to the god.

This place is well connected from Pauri city by road approximately 34 km.

From Delhi to this place is around 300km, there are 3 ways to reach this place.

1. Delhi----Meerut--- Haridwar—Rishikesh---Byasi---Devprayag—Pauri—Danda Nagraj Temple.

2. Delhi----Meerut---Bijnor---Najibabad----Kotdwara—Lansdowne-- Pauri—Danda Nagraj Temple.

3. Delhi----Meerut--- Haridwar—Rishikesh---Byasi---Devprayag—Kharkhola village, form this village6 km walking to climb up the temple.

I choose to go by rishikesh route, I booked one taxi from Delhi and accompanied with one of my friend who’s brother is residing at Srinagar garhwal town which is after 30km from devprayag. From Srinagar to pauri is 28km, though it is a long route, i thought to go along with the known people to understand better about garhwal, since I am from South India. We started Friday at 7pm from Delhi and reached haridwar at 2am night time, we thought beyond this place it is not safe to travel to hills, so we took rest in a hotel in haridwar till morning 8am.

Haridwar Haridwar

After taking breakfast we left haridwar at 9am and reached the spectacular yoga town rishikesh, from here actual garhwal hills starts and the ghat road is narrow and half of the way is filled with land sliding with lots of stones smaller to huge rocks, our taxi driver is an expert person in ghat road driving though many vehilcles coming opposite, he managed a smooth drive.We enjoyed the view of river “Ganga” running in the valley along the road.

Rishikesh

Road is not good till the place byasi, 20km from rishikesh, After the Byasi the road is fantastic, so we enjoyed the travel by viewing the spectacular lush green hills and beautiful valley with the forceful river Ganga.

Byasi

In between we stopped many places to have tea, snacks etc., I told driver to stop at selected places to view the beauty of the fantastic mountain ranges and mind blowing sceneries. We reached devpryag at 12pm. Devprayag is the point where the Bhagirathi and the Alaknanda River join to form the Ganges River. Devprayag is located at the confluence of the Bhagirathi and Alaknanda rivers. It has an average elevation of 830 metres and is one of the five sacred confluences in the hills and is an important place of pilgrimage for devout hindus.

Devprayag

We stopped our car here for sometime to view the sangam of the both rivers and formation of Ganga river. It was a very nice experience. Then we started from devpryag at 12:30pm and reached Srinagar at 1:15pm.

Srinagar is situated on the banks of Alaknanda river and it was the capital of Garhwal before the arrival of British rule. it remained capital of Garhwal for over 300 years, Srinagar offers simply a view of a moderate sized typical mountain town, bigger than other mountainous towns, with slopes and descending - ascending lanes and streets, sights of tall trees, green paddies and colourful horizons with criss-crossed hills and peaks all around. It offers a fresh air to view scattered townships, buildings, temples, monuments and above all the sneaking, rushing Alaknanda, another tributary of mighty holy Ganga, the legendary river, rather a mother Ganga for every Indian.

Srinagar (Garhwal)

Srinagar is a bit hot temperature since it is situated at low altitude comparing to other places around. We reached to my friend’s brother house at 1:30pm, he is also very much interested to go Danda Nagraja Temple with us. He is a pure Garhwali and knows each hook and corner of all areas in Garhwal. After taking lunch at his home we started our journey at 3pm to Danda Nagraja Temple via Pauri.

Srinagar to Pauri is 28 km distance, we enjoyed the views of beautiful mountains and ghat road travel. The Pauri City which is situated at an altitude of 1814 Mts. above the sea-level on the northern slopes of Kandoliya hills is the headquarters of the District Pauri Garhwal and the Garhwal Division. Headquarters of all Govt. departments are located in the city Pauri .

We reached pauri at 4pm and stopped our car to purchase coconut and Jaggery to offer as Prasad at temple. From here danda nagraj temple is 30km, we crossed 3 or 4 mountains and thick forest, but road is nice to travel, after some time of journey we felt that temperature became cool as we are going up to the hill and we had a pleasant climate with cool breeze. We reached the temple area at 5:30pm at the evening dawn and that time the place is covered with full of fog and the visibility is only 5metres but I enjoyed that atmosphere, I took the strong breathe in that fog, almost I felt I am covered by the clouds. It was a great experience in that climate ,one should have at least one time in the life. There is only one shop in this area, you can get tea, snacks etc., from the main road to temple there is a ramp way, a 100metres climb in the ramp. (To be contiuned after few days...).