Divine Destinations

 It is easy to be devout in Uttarakhand.  The very air one breathes there is suffused with divinity. Very many spaces of the Sanatan Dharma are situated/located in-n-around  Uttaranchal. Temple tourism must be the staple diet of the region, right?

Take the Kashi Vishwanath temple, for instance. A legend in its own right, this modest structure is in Uttarkashi at the foot of the mighty Himalayas. The inside story of this simple structure is a study in both, the indianness and in devotion to divinity.

Every region of India nestles here next to each other in an interior space that includes a series of temples situated next to an ashram like structure. Very many such divine destinations make Uttarakhand the Devbhoomi, the abode of the gods, the Divine.

Yes, as in any devotional place in India, this second Kashi, too, is full of filth, narrow roads, congested traffic, a market place overflowing with the usual knickknacks, not to forget the typical cheap chicaneries of the so-called devout. 

Yet there is a subtle difference, unmistakable, which makes it unique. May be, it is the backdrop of what the great Kalidasa, amongst many, described as the "Nagadhiraj", the king of mountains. Indeed it is easy to be devout in Devbhoomi!

Pratima@Each devout  place, every divine space has its unique "sthalmahatym" which pulsates with a special feel, un-define-able but equally unmistakable.

My room in the hotel listens to the lilt of the Bhagirathi. During the day, the Himalayan range overlooks it, while, at night, right now, the outline of the Himalayas is lit with the tiny sparkle of the distant Diwali diya's, actually the tube-lights and bulbs in the ashrams and houses of residents staying up there!

 Apparently, Uttar Kashi has very many ashrams of very many Rishis and of separate sects in Hinduism. I saw the boards of at least three post graduate centres of Sanskrit studies. May be, such seeds of knowledge and wisdom, ancient to modern, add to the uniqueness of Uttar Kashi specifically,  and Uttarakhand in general, as divine destinations.