Naveen’s Travel Blog

Hemkund - Lake and Gurudwara

Wednesday, October 29, 2008 – 7:11 pm

August 06, 2008

After the refreshing trek to the Valley of Flowers , our next destination was Hemkund . Situated at an altitude of 15,000ft, its going to be the toughest one of all our trekking routes. Even if the trail is only about 6km from Gangaria, the steeply inclining path will require that we climb a staggering 5,000ft !! Adding to the challenge: the higher that you go, the more terrible that the path gets and more unpredictable that the weather becomes.  Thats going to be tough even for a physically well-fit person. After the last 2 days of toiling, many in our group had decided to take a pony either for the climb or descend or both ways. 

I had also worked out my choice. Eventhough i was emboldened by my blind confidence and its success on the first day , i know i couldn’t manage the timing for this trek with my snail pace of progress. Visiting Hemkund early at morning in good weather and returning back to Gangaria by late afternoon well before the light falls is the most sensible idea. So i decide to take the pony for the climb alone and return by foot which would be quite a rolling with my strong shoes. Anyway i shouldn’t miss the fun of a pony ride too…!

Taking the same path uphill from Gangaria but instead of turning left, we head straight as if to plunge into the falling Lakshman Ganga. Fortunately the path curves just before the waterfalls and for the first time in these mountains we see a way that is clearly visible ascending by the side of a mountain range snaking all the way up to its higher reaches. At this high altitude, the mountains have virtually no trees, not even tall shrubs; thus giving a wholesome and astonishing view of the landscape.

The pony group that we were being driven had only two mules. The leading mule was Reshma and the following mule was Banna. Yes, its true every group has its leader mule which guides the other mules. The following mules were less experienced and cannot move by themselves without being lead by a mule or commanded by its human master. I was seated on Banna which seems to have a side-mirror problem. Just the same kind of impairment that i suffer with my car driving. Was that a destiny that i inherit to reap everywhere?! Either it was moving too close to the mountain side brushing my body into rocks and over frightened, cursing people, or worse, walks dangerously close to the edge, kicking off stones downhill!! And if i ever dare to look down especially when it does one of its mad gallop, some of its legs were off the ridge…giving you a helluva of goosebumps.

It wasn’t only the stupid nature of this particular mule, infact riding a mule itself wasn’t an enjoyable affair. And a bumpy ride meant that i had to constantly keep my hands held on to the hold and couldn’t snap those breathtaking views….for it would have really taken my breath out if i was flung off-hill. And the mules that i was riding seems to be among the strongest, as they overtook as many groups and reached uphill in 1hr 30mins, superfast!

But despite all, one have to appreciate the great stamina and endurance of the pony-walla (the person commanding the ponies) who accompanies the whole ride on foot along with the galloping mules! He claimed that on a single day he would do 4 trips uphill, earning around 500-600 bucks per mule per trip.  Thats an extraordinary 24km/20,000ft uphill and the same amount downhill. Here we have to note that he didn’t mean that 4 trips was his capacity, its limited so, just because of the time restricting a day!!

Starting, the trail opens as a wide, well laid-out stone-paved mountain path and folds like a serpent clamped onto the side of a steep mountain. As we go higher, the path narrows a bit, only a bit, so still stays sufficiently wide enough but the paved stones become a random disorder and at some places, its nothing more than a clayey sludge. At one point, the path cuts right across the middle of a stunningly large glacier and we had to pass right under the hanging colossus. Finally when we reached Hemkund at around 9.30am, it was thankfully a very clear weather.

Hemkund means “the Bowl in Himalayas “. Infact the place looks so, with a large, almost circular, glacial lake surrounded by seven towering peaks. And just like the Valley of Flowers, Hemkund also has its share of legends, infact several times more….

For hundreds of years, the locals had known the lake as “Lokpal “. Hindu mythology claims the place to be of Gods and where great sages, kings and princes had meditated. Notably Lakshman, brother of Rama, had rested, meditated and recovered, by the banks of this lake after being fatally wounded in the Lankan battle. A temple to Lakshman is rare but one does exist here.

Sri Guru Gobind Singh , the tenth Sikh Guru had written that he had meditated in his previous existence in a place that he describes as “Hemkund Parbat Sapat Sring”, a lake of ice adorned with seven moutain peaks, before leaving his earthly form.  But nobody knew where it was. In 1934, after months of searching, a Sikh soldier, Sohan Singh came across Lokpal and identified it to be the place described by Guru Gobind Singh. Subsequently the Sikhs built on the banks of the lake, “Hemkund Sahib “, star-shaped, concrete and stone structure, designed like a inverted Lotus, the highest Gurudwara in the world !! The place became a popular Sikh pilgrimage destination.

Arriving at this sacred place, i headed straight towards the serene lake where the whole lot of Sikhs were unknotting their holy uncut hair and dipping. But most of them seem to be in great hurry because as they jumped in, they sprang out at the same speed. Well, it was the lake, its freezing cold! I wasn’t prepared to bath, but such was the attraction that i removed my shoes, balaclava; pulled up the tracksuit and ventured in… No, i didn’t do the bounching act, infact i spend several minutes soaking my feet and dipping my head into the water like a crane. A pleasant, rejuvenating numbness intruded into the body.

After the ritual cleansing, i went into the Gurudwara. People irrespective of faith and gender can enter a Gurudwara, you can even snap as many photos. The only requirement is to leave your footwear outside and to cover your head with a bandana. The Gurudwara had 2 levels, the lower level where people and mules can take refuge during bad weather and the upper level which had the main prayer hall - Darbar sahib. When i entered, already a prayer meeting was in progress with a large congregation occupying the entire hall. I seated myself on the floor and enjoyed the pious atmosphere and the colorful ceiling for several minutes. We were served Kara parshad, a mixture of flour, butter and sugar as a blessing.

As the hall emptied, i took several snaps of the Holy throne and the Sikh emblem. To educate you a bit about them:

The throne contains the holy book - Sri Guru Granth Sahib which describes God, morals and ethics of Sikhism. The tenth Sikh Guru had declared that living Gurus are no longer necessary and had written the sacred literature to succeed as the 11th and eternal Guru of the faith. All Gurudwaras contain a copy of the Guru Granth Sahib and its worshipped not as an idol (Sikhs reject idol worship) but as the Supreme Authority of their faith.

In this snap, you can find in the grill of the throne and in the arrangement of the swords, the Sikh emblem - Khanda . It consists of 3 weapons: a double-edged sword in the centre(Khanda) which represents the knowledge of God, a circular weapon (Chakkar) which represents the eternal nature of God and oneness of humanity, two single-edged swords(kirpan) which represents the political and spiritual sovereignty.

Then along with few others, i walked further along the banks of the lake to visit the Lakshman temple.

From this corner of the lake, the view was mesmerizing: the cold winds accumulate snow on the mountain peaks which in turn melts into several tiny streams running down to fill the lake which overflows downhill as a river… What a way to see Nature at work! And in the same breath if you turn towards the other end of the lake, you can see this patch of human intrusion where we mortals put up such a funny sight of disrobing and attempting acrobatics over the same waters, all in the name of religion or adventure or whatever!

On retracing back to the bathing side of the lake, i met with Rinkoo, one of the volunteers who protects the lake from being defiled by unsuspecting visitors. He said its ok for us to climb the rocky mountain adjoining the bathing ghats where we find plentiful of Brahmakamal shrubs. Only that we must not pluck the flower or damage its ground. This exotic flower is not found even in the Valley of Flowers, it thrives in much more high altitudes like Hemkund.

After few snaps, i turned around to come down and what a surprise? Everything had vanished in thin air! I mean the clouds and mist had suddenly descended upon the whole place as if someone had pulled a white sheet over them and all the beautiful views were gone. The lake and gurudwara were barely visible and the surrounding mountains have all disappeared into thick fog.

I have been hanging around the place for more than 2 hours and the weather had been so nice till now. Unfortunately for the people of our group who were climbing by foot, most of them had just arrived or still arriving. And all they got to see was a foggy, bleached, un-inspiring version of what it was a few minutes before. And their disappointment was doubled by the fact that the weather is not going to get any better, there is not much time and everyone must start descending from Hemkund as quickly before the weather gets any worse.

The Gurudwara runs a langar nearby which serves free food for all visitors. Piping hot dal porridge and tea! That was the lunch for our group and its the right kind of food for the climate and was a good nourishment.

Energized, i set upon the task of descending Hemkund. Just like yesterday, my shoes accelerated the descend and provided good cushioning. The weather was drizzling and didn’t permit any more photography.

After hours of frentic climbdown, sometime around 4PM, i reached down to Gangaria where it was quite sunny. And it had been totally a great day out with the Nature..!