Shrikhand Kailash Pilgrimage (5,500 mt.)

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Would like to share a religious pilgrimage with you all, THE SHRIKHAND MAHADEV KAILASH PILGRIMAGE. Shrikhand kailash is one of the 7 religious mountains, considered sacret in Hindu religion, and is believed that Lord Shiv used to reside on these kailash mountains. Shrikhand Mahadev Kailash is situated at an altitude of 5,500 meters(18,000 ft.) above sea level and the trek is tough not skill wise but considering the altitude, weather and distance



"Old Times" : I have treked the place twice, in year 2000 and 2007. In 2000, things were very different. The trek was not that popular among rest of the world, just locals used to go, and was much more tough taking into consideration few things like: The river used to be crossed by just a single fallen tree over it and no food, not tents, no blankets, no light or sight of any living being for miles. Things have changed drastically now, more awareness among trekkers and devotees of lord shiv. There are now briges over streams, food is available both free and paid, the free service being provided by Shrikhand Seva Dal and shop owners in rampur, but this facility is only for few days in month of July.

The trek starts from Jahu village in Kullu. You can reach there by bus following the route Shimla - Rampur - Nirmand - Bagipul - Jahu. The initial trek is along the river, crossing the apple orchards on jahu village.


After about half hour journey, the steep climb to the devdar forest's start. All you can hear is the scratchy sound of the insect found in devdar's, but it sounds good after a while :) There is a little house built just after the steep climb, place is called Singaada (or something similar). Two storied small shed, with second story just 4 feet high. About 100 or more people may come in that small shed during yatra days, at that time no one sleeps, all sit and just wait for morning, singing bhajans whole night.

After singaad the devdar and rai trees almost cease to exist and their place is taken by beautiful wild flowers, herbs and lush green grass and steep mountains.

Here are few of colorful flowers you can find there:

Climbing all the way to the top you will reach Kalli Gathi, there is a small temple there. After that the steep decent starts, the slope is very steep and rain makes it more worse. Then after about 1/2 hour of downhill slope you will reach another hut, can have tea there and something to eat (if its available). They have to bring wood from quite a distance going down as there are no trees at that place.

After that comes a huge glacier that needs to be crossed, it's size varries depending on the time of journey and snowfall that year. In 2000, we went in August mid and thill then the whole glacier had melted. Below you can see how it looked in 2007:

Finally you reach BHIM DWAR, dwar means cave in local language, earlier when people used to go to shrikhand, they used to stay in this big cave,along with nomads(gaddi's) now only few people know where the cave is, now there are tents, a hut is also build, but its roof is removed when the yatra ends, as they say it snows too much (more then 12-15 feet) at that place and the roof does not stand that much pressure. So the roof is fixed every year duing yatra time.

People generally stay in Bhim Dwar at night and start early morning, the next day. After Bhim Dwar its a steep accent towards NAIN SAROVAR . Nain Sarovar, is a lake, formed by melted water from glaciers, its not too deep, and its a tradition to take bath in this holy lake before visiting Shrikhand ( image taking bath, in chilling icy cold water, nice isn't it :) ).

After Nain Sarovar, its a almost vertical climb till the top. No vegitation, not even herbs..... just big, huge rocks, with a strange pattern as if someone has carved them manually. There is a huge glacier, you can either opt to be adventurous and move/walk on it, or else there is a rocky way (bolder hopping). When i was there in 2000, it was literally rock climbing, the rocks are so huge, and at times it was just by the strenght of hands and balance with legs that one had to climb. Now some work has been done by cutting and filling rocks, so as to make the way more smooth. But still the thinness of air is felt immensely, its hard to breath, capacity of walking reduces and it feels like one is going to faint any moment.

Finally one reaches the top for which all the effort is made, and realizes that it sure is worth an effort. Its a feeling of being on top of the world. This peak is the highest in the region, and if you are lucky enough you may get a view of all the ranges, glaciers, passes around... a view that is beyond words to explain....and the divine feeling of being in the Lap of Lord Shiv

In the end, i hope that Shrikhand does not become one of those picnic spots, that most other religious treks in Himachal have become - comercial and dirty. I would really appriciate if people who visit there just take a little care of the environment also, by keeping the plastic bags/wrappers back in there bags and not destroying the herbs/plants there.

Latest and more Info on Shrikhand can be found here : Shrikhand SevaDal Website

ॐ नमः शिवाय