'Visit to Hemkund Sahib (4329 m or 14,200 ft)' - by K J S Chatrath


I went to Hemkund Sahib last time in 2012. That was my fourth and the last visit to Hemkund Sahib.  Now I am too old to take that strenuous journey especially when I do not have the backing of inner faith- I am an atheist. However that does not stop me from respectfully visiting the religious places of various religions.



Hemkund Sahib is a Sikh place of worship and pilgrimage site in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand, India. It is devoted to Guru Gobind Singh (1666–1708), the tenth Sikh Guru, and finds mention in Dasam Granth, a work dictated by the Tenth Guru himself. Hemkund is the breathtaking Lokpal lake located at an altitude of  feet above sea level.


 
 The lake or kund or the sarovar. There are seven mountains around it. They all get snow and then the snow melts and water comes in to this sarovar. The reflection of those seven snow clad mountains in the sarovar is a memorable sight. On the day of my visit there was no snow left on this mountain.
 
 Some of the interesting scenes that I witnessed while climbing up and down were a sikh young man carrying his old mother on his back all the way up and down, free distribution of tea, glucose powder and biscuits by the faithful almost every 200 metres and a group of five blind Sikhs climbing up assisted by a volunteer.
 
  On reaching the top one is greeted with hot cups of tea, biscuits and parshada of khichri.
 
There is a Lakshman Temple on one side. Surprisingly there are very, very few temples dedicated to Lakshman in India. This is one of the rare ones.
 

The pony stand quite near the top. Believe you me, it is easier to climb up on foot rather than take a pony. A pony ride to Hemkund Sahib is painful and risky. The elevation one has to reach is 14,200 feet, the climb is very steep, narrow and the same for pilgrims and the horses.
 
 Please take a closer look after enlarging the photo. I saw the rare sight of a field full of 'Bramh Kamals'
 
 A 'Bramh Kamal'. 
 
 
 Close up of a Bramh Kamal. Source of this photo only is internet.



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