Arjun Haarith: Ranikhet

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

A sojourn in the Kumaon and Garhwal Himalayas : Ancient Adi Badri - (Part 10)

Day 12 - Oct 13th , 2015

The lodge (Krishna Palace) where we stayed the previous night at Karnaprayag, was on the banks of Pindar river, and very close to the confluence point of the two rivers. The sound of the gushing water of Pindar river was like a lion's roar.

Pindar river

Confluence point of Alaknanda and Pindar

On the way back to Nainital from Karnaprayag, we stopped at a place called Adi Badri.

Adi Badri , the first temple complex among the Sapta Badri temples, is an ancient shrine dedicated to Vishnu. It is located in the hill ranges 17 kilometres, beyond Karnaprayag.

According to tradition, Jagadguru Sri Adi Shankaracharya is attributed as builder of all the temples.

In ancient times, when approach to the main shrine of Badrinath was closed due to bad weather conditions, pilgrims worshipped Vishnu at this temple.

There are many temples in the complex at Adi Badri, where gods such as Surya , Kubera , Kali , Ganesh , Shiva etc are worshipped.

We then proceeded to Nainital, which was the last leg of our journey.

We reached Nainital by 5.30 PM, met Mr. Anup Sah at his residence, and then proceeded to Kathgodam to catch the Ranikhet express.

Day 13 - Oct 14th , 2015

We alighted at Delhi by 4.30 AM . Myself , Ambika and Akshay proceeded to IG airport to board the return flight to Bangalore, which was scheduled to depart at 8.15AM.

The other members of our team, stayed in Delhi for 2 more days, as they desired to visit Agra and a local tour of Delhi, before they departed to Bangalore.

Getting there ...

By air: Jolly Grant airport, Dehradun is the nearest airport( 190Km from Karnaprayag).
By rail: Haridwar railway station, around 200Km from Karnaprayag
By road: You can reach Adi Badri from Dehradun , Nainital , Haridwar or Rishikesh.

Route to Adi Badri

1) Dehradun – Rishikesh – Devprayag – Srinagar – Rudraprayag – Karnaprayag - Adi Badri

2) a) Nainital - Almora – Dwarahat – Gairsain – Karnaprayag
b) Nainital – Almora – Kausani – Gwaldham – Tharali – Karnaprayag – Adi Badri

Our Route

Karnaprayag - Adi Badri - Ranikhet - Nainital - Kathgodam

This marks the end of my 10 series blog, and I really thank our team for the company. Special thanks to Satish uncle for making all the arrangements and Sandeep , our driver who accompanied us in the tour.