Trek to Roopkund - Part 5

Day 5 – 19^th September Pather Nachani to Baghwabasa

'Kehte hai agar kisi cheez ko dil se chaho toh poori kaynat tumhein usse milane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai.' Is that why the sun is smiling at us this morning? Maybe… But what is more likely is this – After listening to the desperate lamentations of 12 people throughout the night, God would have asked the sun to shine, just to get us off his back. Whatever the case may be, the sun is shining feebly but surely. I have never been happier at the sight of this golden glow. The camp site looks like a mini ‘dhobi-ghaat’, all the wet socks and shoes and shirts have been spread out to dry. We all are standing having breakfast, basking in the sun. ‘It will be ok today, there will be no more rain now,’ Sandeep says. Oh joy! ‘At this altitude, there’s only snowfall.’ And how is that better? ‘You can just brush the snow off your jackets. You won’t get wet.’ Well, if he says so. I, for one, am willing to take his word for it.  

Today’s hike is relatively easy; we do not have to walk too much. God knows we need an easy day after yesterday’s debacle. It is a very nice trek till Kalu Vinayak. The gradient is not too much, and we start getting to see better and better views of the snow clad peaks. I want to walk solo today, so I make sure I keep a good distance from everyone else. There is a well-marked trail so there is no chance of getting lost. It is the best feeling in the world. It is the best way to absorb all the mesmerizing sights around me, and pack them in my memory for future reference. It feels as if these fantastic mountains and clouds have been specially placed there just for me. Also, this is the only time I can sing to my heart’s content. There’s nobody around to complain about my dreadful voice.

In a couple of hours, I reach the Kalu Vinayak temple. I offer my prayers to the lord of wisdom. Sardar bhai asks me to wait here. ‘All of the group will pray to the lord together, and only then proceed further.’ Religion is a way of life in the mountains, and this is understandable. In the middle of this harsh and unforgiving terrain, where nature can bring mankind to its knees so very easily, it is important to hold on to and reinforce every bit of faith, every bit of belief in our hearts. Just as John Mayer sang – ‘Belief is a beautiful armor, and makes for the heaviest swords.’

Kalu Vinayak temple

Brahma kamal

I ask Sardar bhai why all these places have such peculiar names – Bedini Bugyal, Pather Nachani, Baghwabasa. He promises to tell the story of Roopkund later that would explain it all. Once everyone reaches the temple, Mahesh bahi performs a little puja. Since it is Ganesh Chaturthi, Rutika and I recite ‘Ganapati Atharvasheersha’, and then we all sing ‘aarti’. Vaishali has brought ‘til ke laddoo’, which we offer as Prasad. And then it’s time to move on. Further ahead on the trail, Sardar bhai points to the ‘Brahma kamal’, flowers which bloom only in this region, and only in this season. We see the first snippets of snow, which has been hidden away safely from sun rays so far – hiding under a rock over here, nestling in a leaf over there. Pretty soon we reach a group of odd looking stone huts (I have forgotten their story – does anyone remember?), and a little further is the camping site – the beloved trekkers’ huts.

First glimpse of snow

Baghwabasa is the highest camping site on this trek. The altitude is around 4200 meters, and everyone has to take special care of themselves so that we are in the best shape for the summit stretch tomorrow. The usual rules of acclimatization apply here - have plenty of liquids, stay outside the huts for as long as possible, do not put on all the warm clothing at once, get used to the low temperature as much as possible. The peaks of Trishul and Nandaghungti appear very close from here. As the sun sets, the clouds go away and one by one the stars appear. And what a sight the night sky is. I have never seen the sky so jaded with starts. The milky white band of our galaxy is also very clearly visible. We are being rewarded in heavenly jewels for all the effort that we have made to reach here.

When dinner is served, in comes Sardar bhai to tell the folklore of Roopkund. It is a most interesting story, with gods and goddesses and demons playing their part well. We call it a day at 8 o’clock itself, coz tomorrow is going to start early.

The Legend of Roopkund

Once Goddess Parvati leaves mount Kailas to wander the mountains and the valleys without Lord Shiva’s permission. Shiva does not like the fact that Parvati has not informed him about where she is going. So he decides to teach her a lesson. He sends his Ganas after her, and asks them to create obstacles in Parvati’s way, thinking that if she faces trouble during this jaunt of hers, she will not dare repeat her behavior. At Lohajung and Wan, several Ganas attack her. She fights with them and makes her way to Bedini Bugyal.

At Bedini, a demon called Raktabeej gets in her way. When Parvati slays his neck and his blood drips on the ground, two more demons are created; when Parvati kills them, each of them gives rise to two more. As this continues, Parvati starts getting tired. She is not able to handle all the new Raktabeej demons that are wreaking havoc around her. She takes refuge into a pit on the ground, and keeps going down and down to reach paatal. Here, she prepares a drink made out of jiggery, yeast, etc. On having this drink, she is energized, and emerges from the ground in her Kaali avatar, with a stone bowl in her hand. In the meanwhile, the demons dig up the ground around the pit to find out where she has disappeared. One by one she kills the demons and collects their blood in the stone bowl before it touches the ground and then drinks it. Then she dances with rage here and there to see if any of the demons are still alive. The stone bowl in Garhwali is called a ‘Pather’, and hence the name ‘Pather Nachani’. The place where Parvati went underground spurts out water, and gives rise to a small pond. Since Parvati was in a lot of pain (or vedana) here, this pond is called the Bedini Kund. The bottom of the lake still looks as if someone has dug it up. It is also said that the Vedas were written here, giving this place its name ‘Bedini’.

Seeing Parvati in her Kaali avatar, the ganas are scared, and go to Lord Shiva for his help. Shiva comes down from Kailash to try and pacify her. Eventually Parvati calms down, and agrees to go back to Kailash with Shiva. But before going there, she wants to clean up her destructive avatar. So Shiva plants his trishul in the ground, and creates a pond. Parvati beautifies herself in this pond, hence the name Roopkund. Baghwabasa is the abode of Parvati’s lions; they do not go beyond this point.

Every year, there is a yatra, called the Jat Yatra, till Bedini Bugyal, retracing Goddess Parvati’s steps. Hundreds of people join it, and there is a fair held here. Every twelve years, there is an extra special yatra, called the Raj Jat Yatra, which continues further till Homkund.

What a story… but it does not explain the skeletons. So Sardar bhai launches into another one:

Parvati once visits the kingdom of Kausani. The king of Kausani is away, so the queen looks after Parvati. Parvati is very happy with the way she has been looked-after in the king’s palace. The queen asks her if she needs anything else, and Parvati asks for the king’s throne. But the queen refuses to give it away. Parvati leaves angrily.

When the king comes back, he gets scared of being in Parvati’s bad books, and wants to rectify the error. So he is asked to go alone to Homkund and perform a Pooja. But being the king that he is, he does not want to go without his entourage of army, horses, and courtesans. He proceeds towards Homkund with all of them and reaches Pather Nachani. The gods are not pleased with this. That night when the courtesans are dancing for their king, lightning strikes them and they fall down to paatal. (There are three pits in the ground at Pather Nachani which Sardar bahi had pointed out to us. This is where the dancing girls fell.) But the king does not learn his lesson. He continues on his journey with his army. When he reaches Roopkund, the gods let a hail storm loose on them. The soldiers in his army die, and it is their skeletons that we see at Roopkund. Humbled by all these events, the king finally reaches Homkund, performs his Pooja and is forgiven.

Hats off to Indian Mythology. It’s amazing how all the names, places characters and geographic features fit in perfectly in these stories. Why did National Geographic waste their resources on finding out the story behind these skeletons? All you need is a colorful imagination, and a love for fantasy. You can explain any phenomenon in the world!!