MADMAHESHWAR

Madmaheshwar is the Second Kedar where the navel of Lord Shiva had emerged from the ground. According to Hindu mythology Lord Shiva was flying away from the Pandavas in disguise of a buffalo while they were worshipping Him at the Kedarkhanda in the Himalayas after the battle of Kurukshetra. The second Pandava, Bheem could identify Him and held him from the back. Being helpless the Lord entered into the earth leaving the buffalo back outside. This place is considered as Kedartnath, the first Kedar. The four parts of His body had emerged from the ground and is worshipped as four Kedars established by the Pandavas. These are Madmaheshwar ( the navel ), Tunganath ( the hand), Rudranath ( the face) and Kalpeshwar (the matted hair).

On the second week of June this year (2010) we left for Madmaheshwar and reached Haridwar from Delhi in the evening. We took shelter in the guest house of Bharat Sevashram Sangha. Next morning we hired a jeep which had a contract to take us to Ukhimath and next day it would drop us at Uniyana from where the trek to Madmaheshwar would start. We started at half past six in the morning from Haridwar and proceeded through the bank of the River Ganga after Hrishikesh. The serpentine road along the Ganges proceeded towords Devaprayag. We had a short halt and had breakfast at Koudaliya and again started our journey. At about 9. 45 AM we bypassed Devaprayag, the confluence of Bhagirathi, descending from Gangotri, and Alokananda, coming from Badrinath. This is the junction of the roads towords Gangotri – Yamnotri and Kedar – Badri. We took the right hand road that leads along the Alokananda towords Rudraprayag.

We reached Rudraprayag at about 12 O’ clock and took rest for a while. Rudraprayag is an important township in Garwal and district headquarter. We went near the confluence of rivers Alokananda and Mandakini and spent half an hour. It was a hot day. We started again along the river Mandakini towords Ukhimath. The road was narrow and condition was not at all good. Soon we passed places like Sealsore, Chandrapuri, Agastamuni and reached Kund. The main road leads to Gourikund and we took the right turn for Ukhimath, about 7 km from Kund. Finally we reached Ukhimath at about 3 PM and got accommodation at the guest house of Bharat Sevashram Sangha.

Ukhimath is a small beautiful place. Kedarnath and Madmaheshwar are worshipped here during the winter months when the two places remain closed. The location of the Bharat Sevasram lodge is nice. It is about 1 Km away from the main market. We took a late lunch and had a marketing in the afternoon and went to the temple for evening ‘Arati’.

Next morning we started for Uniyana by jeep, about 23 Km from Ukhimath. We reached 1 Km ahead of Uniyana at about 8 O’ clock in the morning and appointed five porters for our team. After a short tea break we started our trek for Madmaheshwar . The first part of the trek is relatiovely an easy one. The road is broad and moderately steep. The work is in progress and soon motorable road will head towords Rashi. It was a cloudy day and the weather was very comfortable. River Madmaheshwar Ganga was flowing through the gorge and looking like a ribbon. We reached Rashi at 9 O’ clock in the morning.

Rashi is a popular village on the way to Madmaheshwar with post office and a high school. We visited Rakeshwari temple in the village. After breakfast and a cup of tea we started again toword our next destination, Gounder, about six Km from Rashi. The road was more or less easy except few dangerous patches. Our porters helped us to cross those spots formed due to construction work of metal road. We passed through the dense Rhododendron and coniferous forests. Few monkeys were jumping here and there on the trees. We passed through a beautiful waterfall and reached the next village Gounder at about 3 O’ clock.

Most of the people take halt at Gounder. Kailash lodge and madmaheshwar Lodge are two comfort able accommodations at Gounder. But we had another plan. After late lunch we proceeded one and half Km ahead and stopped at Bantoli. Bantoli is a beautiful picturesque place at the confluence of two rivers, Markondeya Ganga originated from Choukhamba peak and Madmaheshwar Ganga, originated from Nandikunda. There are few cottages, and a lodge on the hill top where we took rest for that night. The peaks of Mandani were peeping through the ridges of two mountains.

Next morning we started from Bantoli at nearly 6 O’ clock in the morning. Our target was to reach Madmaheshwar on the same day. It was almost 11 Km from Bantoli. We started walking through the forest of large trees. The road was steep. We walked slowly enjoying the beauty of the trek. The weather was good and snow peaks were visible through the cliffs. We reached Khatara at about quarter to eight. It was almost 2 to 3 Km from Bantoli. We took rest for sometimes and had a cup of tree. Again we started walking. Now the road is very steep. The bright sunshine made us tired. It is another side of the mountain lacking shades of trees. The road is climbing all the way, and we had to take rest after few steps. Madmaheshwar Ganga was passing through the deep gorges and we could hear the sound.

After a tiring trek we reached Nanu (2350 m) at 9.45 A.M. We took almost one and half hour to cover a distance of 2 Km. We took rest at Nanu for almost an hour and had a breakfast. Nanu is a small place having two to three cottages. One can spend a night here in the cottage. The arrangement is so so.

We again started to walk. The scorching heat of Sun made us tired soon. The road had very few trees to get a shed to make the journey comfortable. The road was steep. We reached Moukhamma (2620 m), about 1 km away from Nanu at 12 O’ clock noon. After taking rest for an hour we again started. Soon we entered the forest of large trees. Few Rhododendrons were found blossomed. We reached Kunchatti (2780 m) at 2.30 PM. This is the last halt before Madmaheshwar. The weather was getting worse. So, we moved after a brief halt, after taking a cup of tree. Soon it started to rain. We took out our raincoats and polythene sheets. Gradually it started to rain hard along with freezing wind. The surroundings became hazy and the road became sleeper. We faced all the possible difficulties to walk. The shoes became heavy. The road was steep too. After two hours of tedious walk we crossed about two and half km and finally reached Madmaheshwar.

Madmaheshwar is a small plain land with few cottages and houses, surrounded by mountains from three sides. Most of the people stay here during the summer when Lord Madmaheshwar is worshipped here. The temple resembles that of the Kedarnath. After the Diwali, the holy image of the God is taken down to Ukhimath and the teple becomes closed. Then all the inhabitants also come down. The road is closed during winter. There is a Dharmashala of the Mandir Committee, where we took shelter. We entered into the kitchen of the canteen to take the warmth of the fire.

Suddenly the weather changed. The Sun started to shine and the snow peaks appeared by removing the cloud cover. It was a heavenly scene and we started to take photographs. After having a cup of tea and snacks we changed our dresses and went to the temple to visit the Lord. We visited the Arati in the evening. We took the early dinner and went to the bed.

Next morning we woke up early to enjoy the scenery of the place. It is no doubt a beautiful place I ever seen in my life. The day was very clear and snow peaks were clearly visible. We planned to visit Briddha Madmaheshwar. We started to climb the mountains towards the right side of the temple. There is no specified road to the valley. It was a very steep climb. Soon we gained some altitude. The Madmaheshwar was looking small place from the top. After ascending a few metes we could see the Choukhamba peak. It was looking too large to touch. After walking for about an hour we reached Briddha Madmaheshwar. It is a lash green valley over the mountains. There is no temple of the Lorb Shiva. A shade like structure is formed by erecting pieces of stones.No priest is there to worship the God. The heavenly place is covered with numerous varieties of flowers among the grasses. Many snowpeaks like Choukhamba, Mandani, Kedardome and others were visible. We became spellbound to see sucha lovely scene. We worshipped the Lord with the flowers blossomed round us and spent a few hours there. As the Sun started to shine bright, we felt the heat and came down to Madmaheshwar. There we worshopped the Lord Madmaheshwar very peacefully. The priest was very cordeal and guided me to worship following the proper rituals. We spent the whole day there taking rest and enjoying the beauty of Madmaheshwar.

We started to come down on the next morning through the same way. The steep downhill road made us speedy. We crossed Kunchatti, Moukham, and reached Nanu at about 10.30 A.M. We had an extended halt there and took a heavy breakfast . Gradually we crossed Khatara, Bantoli and arrived to Gounder at about 2.30 PM. We halted at Kailash Lodge owned by Ramesh Panwar. Next morning we walked back to Rashi and released our porters. We went back to Uniyana, and hired a jeep to Gourikund. The wonderful journey came to an end.

Few Important Tips :

The trek to Madmaheshwar is one of the most beautiful treks in the Himalayas. If you are interested in trekking, you must go there. The trek is long and hard, but not at all difficult. We faced some bad patches of dangerous roads in the first part of our trek, but that was due to the explosions made for construction of metal roads.

Bus and jeeps are available from Haridwar to Ukhimath. The bus take almost 10 to 11 hours, while a Tata sumo/jeep will take 7 - 8 hours. There are few lodges to stay at Ukhimath. Bharat Sevasram Sangha is a good place to stay. It is located at the outer part of Ukhimath. You can enjoy the nature from here as well.

No ATM counters were available in Ukhimath, till June 2010. Nearest counter was available at Guptakashi. So the Madmaheshwar tourists should keep sufficient cash money to them.

Be careful of the porters of Uniyana. They charged Rs. 300 per day without food. They are not even ready to take more than one luggage. You have to provide accommodation for them. At last they even included the expence of their ‘Bidis” (cigerrate) into their account. Their behavior was also not good. So, try to contract with them without food and lodging. I should mention the name of Gajendra Khoyal from Rashi, who also went with us as porter @ Rs. 150/- per day for my uncle. He was really a gentleman and helped us in all possible ways. I’m sorry I have lost his cell no. But if available, I’ll post it later in my blog.