The agonising cost of ham-handed development ’s leaders must recommit themselves to the ideas and activism of environmentalists involved with ments fostered the growth of Ha- upstream at Badrinath. Centuries duced infrastructure that ridwar and Kalsi as cosmopolitan later, in 1808, when a motley facilitated pilgrimage to select towns and as “gateways” into the troupe of Englishmen reached the sacred centres. The foundations Himalayas. Initially, mendicants in in disguise, they laid by the agencies intensified af- search of retreats, merchants eag- reported it as welcoming 45,000- ter 2000 when owing to regional er to enlarge trading networks, ad- 50,000 pilgrims annually. Given demands for greater political auto- Nachiket Chanchani venturous princes in their quest to its location in an avalanche-prone nomy, Uttarakhand was carved establish principalities, and arti- valley above the tree line, it is like- out of sprawling Uttar Pradesh. Re- sans in search of employment ly that the Badrinath temple has cognising religious tourism as an ollowing flash floods at Cha- passed through these gateway been built and rebuilt several important source of income for a moli in Uttarakhand, defence towns. Eventually, in the seventh times in its history. Like the pre- landlocked State mostly covered Fpersonnel are looking for century, a regional tradition of sent Badrinath temple, the temple by snowcapped peaks and dense missing persons in a mélange of stone temple architecture com- standing at Kedarnath today, dates forests, a succession of govern- rock, mud, water, and debris, air- menced in the Uttarakhand Hima- to the early modern period. ments have created further amen- lifting rations to inaccessible villag- layas. The earliest shrines in this As sites located close to the gla- ities for pilgrims, widely publi- es, and repairing bridges and tele- tradition were built at Palethi and AFP cial sources of the Ganga and the cised initiatives, and embarked on communication networks. Social Lakhamandal, just upstream from And by the thirteenth century, , and the construction of new dams, scientists are assessing the disas- Haridwar and Kalsi, by visiting so- larger entourages of ascetics, and have also been given sacred asso- multi-lane highways, and rail- ter’s impact on the region’s econo- vereigns. occasionally rulers from distant ciations. Historically sought out by roads. As a result of these efforts, my. Scientists and policy makers lands began undertaking pilgrim- fearless sadhus, in the more recent many more individuals now un- are debating whether climate Early developments ages to established and emerging past they have been visited by in- dertake sacred journeys, which change or unchecked develop- However, these two sites with tirthas in this mountainous region. trepid Englishmen eager to partici- until 60 years ago were made by ment in an ecologically fragile re- royal patronage never became ma- Their journeys and activities ulti- pate in ongoing efforts to map In- only the bravest, fittest, and most gion was primarily responsible for jor tirthas. Instead, , sit- mately paved the way for the Char dia. In the early 20th century, the determined pilgrims. the disaster and the death toll. uated well east of Lakhamandal Dham Yatra. Jaipur royal family supported the News reports of ancient temples and Palethi attained this stature. construction of a temple at Gango- Revisiting ideas having been swept away in the Ala- Between the seventh and tenth The pilgrimage circuit tri. The shrines at Yamunotri to- The 2013 Kedarnath floods and the kananda’s raging waters are bring- centuries, builders at Jageshwar The Char Dham Yatra today con- day are ever newer. flash floods that have swept ing back traumatic memories of modified local geography and sists of a pilgrimage to Badrinath, through the Alakananda Valley the Kedarnath floods in 2013. All ecology to encourage compari- Kedarnath, Gangotri, and Yamu- Shifts, ecopressures earlier this week suggest that ham- these developments show the pro- sons between it and celebrated lo- notri. Like many other tirthas in Demographic, political, social and handed development in the name found significance attached to this cales such as Kashi and Devadaru- Uttarakhand, Badrinath and Ke- economic shifts that have oc- of god, or otherwise, can come at region and they prompt a histor- navana, ’s legendary deodar darnath have long been associated curred in the past six decades have an agonising cost. Now is the time ian to ask two fundamental and in- forest. Eventually, Jageshwar came with gods and sages. For instance, led to an increase in the number of for our leaders to recommit them- terrelated questions: How did the to have 150 stone temples. These in the , Badrinath is pilgrims visiting sacred centres in selves to the ideas and activism of Uttarakhand Himalayas emerge as early developments at Jageshwar described as the site of Narayana’s Uttarakhand. After 1962, the In- Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Gaura Devi, a deva bhumi and how did it deve- are relatable to the sway of the discourse to Nara. Kedarnath is dian government recognised that Guru das Agrawal, Ravi Chopra, lop into a focus of Hindu Pashupatas and other Shaiva as- mentioned in the Skanda Purana, the world’s highest and loftiest Sunderlal Bahuguna, Vandana Shi- pilgrimage? cetics and not to the rise of local in medieval lists of jyotirlingas, mountain range no longer served va, and other Gandhian environ- dynasties. In fact, the influence of and in the names of temples built as an insurmountable wall. To sa- mentalists and social workers. Ov- Borderland to sacred place these ascetic groups in this period as far away as Karnataka. feguard against future incursions, er the past few decades, they have A study of the archaeological re- distinguishes Uttarakhand from Additionally, both Badrinath a massive development pro- mobilised local communities to cord and inscriptional evidence adjoining kingdoms where aristo- and Kedarnath are associated with gramme along the country’s protect Uttarakhand’s forests, suggests that many and varied cratic lineages were the primary Adi Shankara who is said to have mountainous northern border created local employment, and agents and processes played im- power brokers. visited them in the eighth century. was launched. Agencies such as questioned the wisdom of con- portant roles in gradually trans- In time, the development of a Possibly his followers played a role the Border Roads Organisation, structing large hydroelectric pro- forming this borderland into a distinctive architectural tradition, in constructing temples at Pandu- the Indo Tibetan Border Police, jects in a seismically sensitive sacred landscape. Artefacts found increases in the priestly popula- keshwar where medieval edifices and the THDC India Limited (for- sacred landscape. They have also in the Himalayan foothills that are tion, greater availability of skilled built in the Dravida and Nagara merly Tehri Hydro Development reminded us that unless we datable to the period extending craftsmen, and the emergence of modes stand side-by side. The ol- Corporation Limited) were esta- change our course of action, from 300 BCE and 600 CE include small principalities, helped furth- dest historical evidence of the es- blished. They were granted sizea- another Himalayan miscalculation an Ashokan rock edict, brick altars er alter the status of this border- tablishment of a sacred centre at ble budgets, and charged with the is imminent. for conducting ashvamedha yag- land and perceptions of it. By the Badrinath comes from a charter construction of roads, tunnels, nas, coin hoards, and sculptures. twelfth century, architects, mas- dating to the ninth century pre- bridges, cantonments, hospitals, Nachiket Chanchani is an associate The forms of these artefacts and ter-masons, and sculptors from served at Pandukeshwar. dams, and telecommunication py- professor at the University of Michigan, their find-spots indicate deepen- lands as far away as Gujarat tra- Issued by a hill ruler, the char- lons. Ann Arbor, U.S. and the author of ing contact between communities velled to Uttarakhand to build ter instructs priests living at near- Over time, these efforts stimu- ‘Mountain Temples and Temple living in the Gangetic plains and in temples in elaborate typologies as- by villages of Joshimath and Pan- lated the region’s economy, nur- Mountains: Architecture, Religion, and the foothills. These very develop- sociated with their homelands. dukeshwar to help brahmacharis tured new settlements, and intro- Nature in the Central Himalayas’