Travelogue: A hermit travels from the Garhwal Himalayas to Mount Kailash and Manas Sarovar in 1898

Today is the 26th of Jaisthya of the Bengali year 1306. I took a rest at Joshimath today. From here I had to make all preparations to go to Tibet. I will get up tomorrow morning and proceed towards Kailash and Manas Sarovar.

Tomorrow’s sunrise will help me in my journey; tomorrow’s cool breeze will stimulate my heart and mind and give me the leisure to reach the foot of Kailashpati – Lord Kailash. These thoughts didn’t let me sleep at night. I only sat waiting for dawn to arrive. Then, before the early morning sun rose high in the sky, I got up, completed my ablutions, and woke up my companions.

The royal path, which I mentioned earlier, would take us up to Niti, located at the border of the British state. From there the Tibetan territory began. The royal path went along the valley of the Dhauliganga, which originated in Tibet.

We left Joshimath a little before dawn and began to walk along the path. Approximately around noon, we reached a village called “Dhak”, which was at a distance of six miles from Joshimath. The road to Niti went eastwards through this village. The Dhauliganga also flowed below Dhak. After Dhak, there are no proper villages on the path for the next four-five days of travelling. So, we had to take a rest here and stock up on our food supplies.

I ordered my companion and dobhashi servant Vishnu Singh to go and collect food. In the meantime, I went and took shelter at a Brahmin’s house. The Brahmin wholeheartedly welcomed me and even prepared my food. Within a couple of hours, Vishnu Singh came back with the food he had collected. He had also arranged for two porters to accompany us up to Niti.

Those who wish to visit Manas Sarovar and other pilgrim places in Tibet must have a servant who can function as a dobhashi or interpreter, who knows both Hindustani and the Tibetan language. The people residing around Niti and Nilong Pass in Johar are conversant in both languages. Vishnu Singh was a Johari. With his help, I was able to arrange everything in a short time. Although by the time all the work was completed, it was the end of the 28th of Jaisthya.

We began our journey towards Niti early in the morning of 29th of Jaisthya. The village of “Tapovan” lies just below Dhak. The road crossed Tapovan and then went eastwards. Below flowed the Dhauliganga, above was the village of Tapovan, and in the middle there were two old and dilapidated temples of Shiva and Shivani. Here, Shivani was known as Nanda Devi. In the 39th chapter of the Devi Purana, it says, “Varuna Deva had worshipped Nanda Devi in this very sacred Himalayas.” Nanda Devi is an incarnation of Goddess Shakti with eight hands.

There is a small spring on the eastern side of the temple of Nanda Devi. At the edge of that spring there is a cottage of a Vaishnav sadhu. The cottage is decorated with fruits and flowers. About half a mile east from this cottage is a hot spring which is known as being a great place of pilgrimage. This hot spring is very comfortable in the cold atmosphere of the Himalayas.

I took a bath in the hot spring, paid obeisance to the sadhu, circumambulated him, and then started walking slowly once again. I got to know that the sadhu was originally from Ayodhya, was eighty years old, always prayed silently, and lived here alone. He desired to breathe his last in this holy land of the Himalayas. Although the mountainous path proved difficult for me, I started walking desperately with a sense of fascination. The pleasant and cool breeze of the Himalayas energised my fatigued body and the snow-covered peaks beckoned me to climb higher and higher. The solemnity of the dense deodar and evergreen chir trees attracted me towards a mountain cave.

Today we took rest in the cave. These mountain caves were the only shelter for travellers on this route. Wherever there was a mountain cave, we found a few travellers resting there. The cave in which we took shelter today had six different travellers from various regions who had travelled for various purposes. Some were traders, some pilgrims, some had come on a hunting expedition. But everyone was exhausted and needed shelter. So, without discriminating against food, we settled down in different corners of the cave.

This cave was situated on the shore of the Dhauliganga. The main road was located above the cave. High above that main road, on the top of another high peak, was located another temple dedicated to Bhavishya Badrinarayan (Badrinarayan of the Future) and Nanda Devi. In Kedarkhand, it is written, “When Kali will engulf the world completely, the Nar mountain and the Narayan mountain will meet each other and prevent the Alakananda River from flowing. It will block the path to Badrikashram and then no one would be able to visit Badrinarayan anymore. At that time the pilgrims will turn to Bhavishya Badrinarayan and that will serve as a substitute for a darshan of the original Badrinarayan.”

Some of my companions went to visit Bhavishya Badrinarayan, some to Nanda Devi. I was very exhausted today. So, I was incapable of climbing the tall mountains and was forced to stay back and rest in the cave. My companions came back in the afternoon carrying firewood, fruits and roots. We finished bathing and taking our meals a little before evening. This place is situated twelve miles from Joshimath and we spent the night here. Waking up very early the next morning, and after completing our morning rituals, we started walking eastwards.

Today’s path was extremely difficult and unapproachable. Sometimes there was a very uphill climb and sometimes a very steep descent. This climbing up and then going down made us feel exhausted only after three or four miles of travelling. If we didn’t reach a regular place on time, we wouldn’t get water, firewood or shelter. In this mountainous path one didn’t get places to rest according to a fixed distance. We had to settle down and take a rest whenever water and firewood were easily available and there was only little of flat land. We were very fortunate if we found a cave, otherwise one created a circular place for shelter by arranging stones that was called gher in the local parlance and stayed within it. There was only one dharamshala on this route and that was very far away. At our pace, we couldn’t reach that place today. So, we had to take shelter in a cave tonight and we slowly moved towards it.

After walking very slowly, I reached a high point and saw that we had crossed many snow-covered high mountains and reached a place where these white mountains created by the gods seemed to tell me a lot of things through gesture. What I understood was—‘travel with a clear mind and a clear heart, and you can become pure.’ Keeping this advice in my mind, I descended below and my anxiety reduced. Soon, I arrived at a cave where we would have to stay today.

The place was very pleasant. The grand path was in front of us, the cave was located above it, and the fast-flowing river was just below. On both banks of the river were sky-high mountains. The mountain on the eastern side of the river was called “Donagiri”. The Puranic name of Donagiri was Gandhamadan. In Ramayana, during the fight in Lanka, when Lakshman had fallen in battle and lost his consciousness, the valiant Hanuman had lifted the Gandhamadan mountain and carried it all the way to Lanka. To this date, there are signs of that. Donagiri doesn’t have a tall peak, and looks as if someone had uprooted its peak. Different kinds of medicinal plants are found in Donagiri even today.

At night, thousands of bright lights can be seen over this mountain, but there are no signs of habitation during daytime. If anyone climbed up to the top of this mountain, he would become dizzy with the smell of leaves and flowers.

If one wants to climb Donagiri, one must go through the village of “Malhari”. Today is the third day since we left the village of Dhak and we haven’t seen any other village on the way. But the Dhauli valley where we are travelling now has several small villages located in the high mountains. They are situated at such heights that one almost faints while climbing up to reach them, let alone go and take shelter there. I heard that if we walked for twelve or thirteen miles tomorrow, we would be able to reach Malhari before evening. Today is the 29th of Jaisthya; today we took shelter in the cave. This place was barely six or seven miles away from the cave where we had stayed earlier. We have been continuously travelling eastwards for the whole day.

Excerpted with permission from The Forest of Snow, Swami Ramananda Bharati, translated from the Bengali by Somdatta Mandal, Speaking Tiger Books.