JASC: Journal of Applied Science and Computations ISSN NO: 1076-5131

THE GUARDIAN GODDESS OF CHAR DHAM'S IN

Sumit Hooda MA (History)- NET/JRF Uttrakhand SET HPPSC-SET Exam

A goddess who personifies nature, motherhood, fertility creation,

destruction is represented or categorized as ' mother goddess' . Even the

earliest inhabitants of India were the worshipper of mother goddess .

Their worship can be traced back to pre- Vedic, prehistoric India.

Each and every state is known for it's different cultures and

different beliefs similarly like many of the states in India, Uttarakhand

also known as " Dev Bhoomi' possessed its different beliefs and practices.

Many Goddesses are worshipped as ' Kul Devi' by the inhabitants of

uttarakhand. The two most prominent mother goddesses that we will be

discussing in detail in this paper are:- Dhari Devi and .

Lying in the North of Vast and bountiful expanse of India and

amalgamated with the beauty and calmness of Himalayas the Dev

Bhoomi Uttarakhand has been a centre of attraction for it's pilgrims

since the time immemorial . The sacred pilgrimages include Haridware,

the world famous char Dham Yatra i'e Badrinatha, Kedarnatha,

and yamunotri, Hemkund Sahid, Nanakmatta, Meetha- Reetha Sahib

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and Piran Kaliyar. These pilgrims are able to attract the seekers, to fulfill

their spiritual desire since ancient times. Dhari Devi Temple is located

between Srinagar and Rudrapryag in the pauri Garhwal region of

Uttarakhand . The temple is situated in the middle of .

The temple contains the upper half of the idol of goddess Dhari, whereas

the lower half of the idol is situated and worshippped in as the

manifestation of the Goddess Kali. According to legends it is believed that

the torso portion of the idol was drifted apart from the original idol,

during the floods in the Alaknanda river. The upper part of the idol was

then found near the village known as Dhari. The local villagers along

with the Dhunar caste of the village then placed the torso on the nearby

high mountain. The Brahmanas of Dhari village are the priests of the

Dhari temple.

One of the most interesting aspect and belief associated with the

goddess is that the stone carved deity changes faces from a girl to a

women to an old lady during morning day and evening respectively.

A large number of devotees visit the temple throughout the year.

Out of the many festivals celebrated in Dhari Devi Temple, the most

important festivals are Durga Puja and Navratra.

The goddess is considered as the guardian deity of uttarakhand

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and is considered as the protector of char Dham's . the Shrine is

amongst the 108 Shakti Sthals in India according to the numbering by

Srimad Devi Bhagwat. The goddess is famous for fulfilling the desires of

her believers. The believers use to tie huge bells in the premises of the

temple in lieu of fulfilling their desires.

The temple of Dhari Devi was demolished on June 16, 2013 due to

the construction of 330 NW Alaknanda Hyduo Electric Dam. This

project faced severe opposition from locals. Trying to find a middle way of

keeping the beliefs of people safe and construction of the hydro dam, it

was decided to shift the temple by constructing a platform vertically. The

platform was ready, however moving of idol became difficult for the

temple authorities as it might hurt the sentiments of the local &

inhabitants.

The Mandakani river started flooding on June 16 and a quick

decision of relocating the idol was taken up by the temple authorities. In

an interview given by Devi Prasad Pandey ( ex secretary) of Dhari Devi

temple, he stated that, " By the evening the temple was under knee deep

water there were reports of heavy rainfall, so shifting the Dhari Devi idol

was the only alternative. We shifted the idol by 6.30pm". Call it a belief or

superstition, the locals have claimed that angering the Goddess (Dhari

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Devi) will result the destruction . Their faith was further blostered when

hours after the idol was relocated, a cloudburst his the Kedarnath Valley,

washing away the entire shrine town and killing a large number of

people. The entire world was shivering by seeing such a large scale

devastation.

The locals proclaimed that the goddess has shown her anger and

Kedarnath and other parts suffered the damage. The goddess wanted to

teach the atheists a lesson and that is why such a devastation was

witnessed.

Thus, to conclude one can state that according to the legends,

dhari Devi a manifestation of goddess Kali, is seen as persevere and

protector of Uttarakhand and the char Dham's . The deity is famous for

changing her face appearance as the day progresses. The locals believed

that the relocation of the idol, angered the goddess and as a result

Uttarakhand was hit hard by a large scale devastation however, a

question still arises , that is always tender, is it really the anger of the

goddess or an alarm for human beings to stop interfering in the nature?

Is it really a lesson from goddess to teach the atheists or a lesson from

Nature towards all human beings to teach them that nature will always

overpower humans and its high time that they should stop harming/

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destroying the nature, otherwise, the end is inevitable.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Joshi, Hridayesh, the untold history of the Kedarnath disaster,

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 Negi, Sunil, Havoc in Heaven, 2015.

 Purohit, Bhagwati Prasad, Dev Bhoomi ka Rahasys Uttarakhand Ke

Tirth Mandir, 2011.

 Bartawal, V., Garhwali Gaathon me Lok aur Devta, 201.

 Sharma, D.D., Cultural history of Uttarakhand (IGNCA), 2009.

 Negi, Chandra Singh, Uttarakhand: Nature Culture, Biodiversity,

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 Negi Dinesh, Ahuja, Priyanka, know Your State uttarakhand, 2016.

 Joshi, Hridayesh, Lal Lakeer, 2016.

 Cheema, Pooja, The last pilagrims: A True story of love, Loss and

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Madan, Gaurav, Unearthed: An Insight to uttarakhand disaster, 2014

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