History of Yamunotri Temple Garhwal

History: Major Temples of Garhwal in Gurkha/Gorkha Period

History Discussion on Gurkha/Gorkha Administration in Garhwal - 18

History of Gorkha /Nepal Rule over Kumaun, Garhwal and Himachal (1790-1815) -83    

   History of Uttarakhand (Garhwal, Kumaon and Haridwar) -602

                        By: Bhishma Kukreti (A History Student)

          Garhwal Kings and later on, Gurkha/Gorkha administrators offered villages to major temples of Garhwal and the income from those villages used to have been used for running expenses of those temples.

             There are interesting descriptions available about a few temples of Garhwal during Gurkha/Gorkha Regime.

                          Yamunotri Temple in Gurkha /Gorkha Period

            Yamuna River as goddess is called daughter of Sun God and sister of Yama (Death God).

 Yamunotri is source of Yamuna River. However, still, there is discussion on for actual source of Yamunotri. It seems that there were frequent geographical changes in Yamunotri valley and the travelers wrote what they saw at his time in Yamunotri valley. Raturi states that the source of Yamunotri was Kantha or three hill shrines of Bandarpunch . Dr S P Naithani states that according to Robert Survey the source of Yamuna is not Bandarpunch but is Bahu kulind Hills (west of Bandharpuch).

       Traveler and East India Company Surveyor James, B Fraser (1815-18) offered first authentic description about Yamnotri/Yamunotri Temple.

          The road to Yamunotri was difficult to reach. Therefore scanty pilgrims used to visit Yamunotri.  Fraser (Himala Mountains) offered us the painting of Yamunotri temple sight too. Fraser describes that the temple sight was made by two feet high stone walls. There was no idol of any deity or goddess inside the Devala or worshipping place.  There were a couple of iron snake heads and a few tridents. A few were straight and a few were bent. In centre there was a copper umbrella (Chhatra) hung There were a copper lamp (Diya) and a small bell. Pujari used to ring that at the time of rituals.

  Since, pilgrims were scanty there was no such rituals as of today. However, nearby villagers worshipped the Yamunotri or source of Yamuna. In summer, the villagers used to visit here with their village deity idol kept on Palenque. They used to dip the idols into Hot water spring (Taptakund). The villagers used to visit Yamunotri with dance, singing and go with dance and singing. Every villager used to be drunk. The priests of Yamunotri used to live in Kharsali.

   Thereafter Gurkha Rule, various Kings are said to build Yamunotri Temple. 

** History, Gurkha/Gorkha Administration in Garhwal...Remaining part, read in next chapter

Copyright@ Bhishma Kukreti Mumbai, India, bckukreti@gmail.com4/4//2015

History of Garhwal – Kumaon-Haridwar (Uttarakhand, India) to be continued… Part -603

*** History of Gorkha/Gurkha /Nepal Rule over Kumaun, Garhwal and Himachal (1790-1815) to be continued in next chapter 

(The History of Garhwal, Kumaon, Haridwar write up is aimed for general readers)

XX

                    Reference

Atkinson E.T., 1884, 1886 , Gazetteer of  Himalayan Districts …

Hamilton F.B. 1819, An Account of Kingdom of Nepal and the territories

Colnol Kirkpatrik 1811, An Account of Kingdom of Nepal

Dr S.P Dabral, Uttarakhand ka Itihas part 5, Veer Gatha Press, Dogadda

Bandana Rai, 2009 Gorkhas,: The Warrior Race

Krishna Rai Aryal, 1975, Monarchy in Making Nepal, Shanti Sadan, Giridhara, Nepal

I.R.Aryan and T.P. Dhungyal, 1975, A New History of Nepal , Voice of Nepal

L.K Pradhan, Thapa Politics:

Gorkhavansavali, Kashi, Bikram Samvat 2021 

Derek J. Waller, The Pundits: British Exploration of Tibet and Central Asia page 172-173

B. D. Pande, Kumaon ka Itihas

Sharma , Nepal ko Aitihasik Rup Rekha

Chaudhari , Anglo  –Nepalese Relations

Pande, Vasudha , Compares Histriographical Traditions of Gorkha Rule in Nepal and Kumaon

Pradhan , Kumar, 1991, The Gorkha Conquests , Oxford University  Press

Minyan Govrdhan Singh , History of Himachal Pradesh

A.P Coleman, 1999, A Special Corps

Captain Thomas Smith, 1852,Narrative of aFive Years Residence at Nepaul Vol.1

Maula Ram/Mola Ram  , Ranbahadurchandrika and Garhrajvanshkavya

J B Fraser , Asiatic Research

Shyam Ganguli, Doon Rediscovered

Minyan Prem Singh, Guldast Tabarikh Koh Tihri Garhwal

Patiram Garhwal , Ancient and Modern

Tara Datt Gairola, Parvtiy Sanskriti

XXX

Nepal Itihas, Garhwal Itihas, Kumaon Itihas, Himachal Itihas; Gurkha/Gorkha ks kumson psr Adhikar Itihas , Gurkha/Gorkha Garhwal par Shasan Itihas;  Gurkha/Gorkha Rule in Kumaon, Garhwal Uttarakhand; History Gurkha/Gorkha  Rule in Himachal, Uttarakhand;कुमाऊं , उत्तराखंड काइतिहास ; गढ़वाल , उत्तराखंड का इतिहास ; डोटी , पूर्व उत्तराखंड का इतिहास;गोरखाओं /गुर्खाओं का कुमाऊं पर अधिकार इतिहास ; गोरखाओं /गुर्खाओं कागढ़वाल पर अधिकार इतिहास ; गोरखाओं /गुर्खाओं का हिमाचल पर अधिकारइतिहास ; गोरखाओं /गुर्खाओं का  इतिहास ; नेपाल इतिहास

Xx

History Discussion on Gurkha/Gorkha Administration in Garhwal; History Discussion on Gurkha/Gorkha Administration in Pauri Garhwal; History Discussion on Gurkha/Gorkha Administration in Chamoli Garhwal; History Discussion on Gurkha/Gorkha Administration in Rudraprayag Garhwal; History Discussion on Gurkha/Gorkha Administration in Tehri Garhwal; History Discussion on Gurkha/Gorkha Administration in Uttarkashi Garhwal; History Discussion on Gurkha/Gorkha Administration in Dehradun Garhwal; 

Xx

History: Major Temples of Garhwal in Gurkha/Gorkha Period; History: Major Temples of Dhangu, Garhwal in Gurkha/Gorkha Period; History: Major Temples of Lansdowne Tehsil Garhwal in Gurkha/Gorkha Period; History: Major Temples of Pauri Garhwal in Gurkha/Gorkha Period; History: Major Temples of Chamoli Garhwal in Gurkha/Gorkha Period; History: Major Temples of Rudraprayag Garhwal in Gurkha/Gorkha Period; History: Major Temples of Tehri Garhwal in Gurkha/Gorkha Period; History: Major Temples of Uttarkashi Garhwal in Gurkha/Gorkha Period; History: Major Temples of Dehradun Garhwal in Gurkha/Gorkha Period; History: Major Temples of Haridwar, Garhwal in Gurkha/Gorkha Period;  History of Yamunotri Temples in Garhwal,  History of Yamunotri Temples in Uttarkashi Garhwal, History of Yamunotri  Temple in Yamuna –Tones Rivers Valley Garhwal, History of Yamunotri Temples in Garhwal,  History of Yamunotri Temple Garhwal, History of Yamunotri Temple Uttarakhand, History of Yamunotri Temple Himalaya