Monday, May 26, 2008

About Tunganath

Facts
Tunganath temple is situated on the highest altitude in Himalayan Region,13,072 feet from the sea level, as the word means in Sanskrit. “Tunga” is peak and “Nath” is lord. Tunganath literally means “Lord of the Peak”.It is an abode of Lord Siva and one of the Panch Kedars , the five Kedar temples dediocated to Lord Siva, the important among them being the Kedarnath, which is visited by millions of tourists and trekkers every year. The other 4 are Kedarnath, Madhmaheshwar, Rudranath , and Kalpanath. The current temple is about 1000 years old. Tunganath is one of the oldest temple of SHIVA..The place is renouned as Indian Switzerland..


The high altitude temple is a Seat of Swyambhu Linga . The temple, is situated in Chamoli district of the Uttaranchal State of India. The Tunganath temple, on the inner Himalayan range, is among a few shrines situated at a height of more than 13,072 feet from the sea level. This gives it the magic of its own. To get there, one passes through the most delightful temperate forests in the Garhwal Himalaya.

From Chandrashila (14,000 ft), a very great section of the Himalaya is visible. Legend has it that Goddess Chandrama (Moon) had spent a long time here in a penance. Bandarpoonchh, Chaukhambha, Neelkanth, Nandadevi, and several other peaks are clearly visible from this place. Chaukhambha (25,000 ft) looks so close as if at an arm's distance. The peaks also remind one of the fables that they are the ladders to the heavens. Nandadevi is of course clouded most of the times. Besides, a large part of Garhwal is seen from here, far away valleys and all that that is the grandeur of Garhwal. On the background of Tunganath is Ravanashila, where Ravana is believed to have accomplished tapa or penance. Wild buffaloes are regularly is site there.

The legends about Tungnath can be found at http://www.mouthshut.com/review/Tungnath-102847-1.html

My Links:

About Tunganath

Trip To Tunganath - Day 1 - Photos

Trip To Tunganath - Day 2 [Trek to Deveria Tal] - Photos of Okhimat and Photos of Trek To DeveriaTal

Trip To Tunganath - Day 2 [Trek to Tunganath] - Photos

Trip To Tunganath - Day 3 [Return Journey] - Photos - Sun Rise and Way Back



Some more links on the net:
http://www.summittoseatours.com/kedar.html

Chopta-Tunganath by Deeps Kumar - http://www.flickr.com/photos/happysoul/sets/72157600056493818/

kmanojmenon's photostream - http://www.flickr.com/search/?ss=2&ct=6&w=11285010%40N05&q=tunganath&m=text

http://chitrang.blogspot.com/2006/10/day-3.html
some fabulous sunrise pictures here- http://chitrang.blogspot.com/2006/10/day-4.html with Sunrise behind the mounain (see the Hexagon formation), Shadown of Mountain (see a 3D pryamid formation) and Panaormic View of Chaukhamba Peak's

3 comments:

Sivakumar said...

Awesome... this is the one of the wonders in India <{:)

Vee said...

yeah went thru all ur posts abt ur tunganath trip... u must hav had loadsa fun camping at such an altitude

Nachiketa said...

@sivakumar - this is such a beautiful place cause it's untouched beauty.... if it were "wonder" and publicized maybe it won't have the same charm.

@vee - thanks for stopping by. wish we had time to aclamatize ourselves to the altitude, we would have enjoyed much more... :-)