Snap Well

From Lakhamandal Temple at Jaunsar Village, we traveled to Yamunotri and halted at Janaki chatti. Chatti means a hill in Gadwali language. The road journey to Yamunotri via Barkot, Syana chatti, Rana chatti and Hanuman chatti etc. is quite exciting and adventurous one passing through narrow roads with steep turns. The road passes through thrilling and exhilarating locations offering picturesque surroundings with awesome Deodhar trees, shrubs, lush meadows and gushing cascades. You will find the entire beauty of Gadwal mountain ranges. Two eyes doesn't seem enough looking at those beautiful mountains and valleys of Gadwal Himalayan ranges. Eyes get tired of watching the beauty of those mountains but still can't resist from looking at them. Janaki chatti is the last destination for a vehicle to halt for Yamunotri. It is 6 kilometers trek from here. We halted at a hotel in Janaki Chatti and trekked to Yamunotri the next morning. The picture below is the temple you find a

As a part of our trip to char-dham, after Mussoorie we visited an ancient temple complex called Lakha Mandal at Jaunsar village of Dehradun district. It is located around 130 kilometers from Dehradun and 35 kilometers from Chakrata on the Mussoorie-Yamunotri road, past Kempty falls. The shiv-lings emerged at every yard in the temple area when excavated by the archaeological survey of India. Villagers believe there are lakhs of lings underneath, hence the name lakha mandal. The legend says, this is the same place where Duryodhana conspired to kill Pandavas by building a Lakshyagriha hence named Lakhamandal. There is a Pandav cave at the entrance of the village which is believed that Pandavas escaped from this cave. There are many other caves around the mountains of the village. Now let me guide you through the Lakhamandal Temple with images. This is the main temple situated amidst the beautiful mountains around. It is believed to be more than 2000 year old temple. The

I heard many legends about "Rishikesh" since my childhood days. It is considered as Devi Bhoomi, the land of Gods and Tapo Bhoomi, the land of Penance. They say, many Gods lived here and great saints and sages did their tapas and attained enlightenment. Finally, after a long wait of 40 years I got a chance to visit Rishikesh. I must thank my teacher Smt. Zarna Mohan for conducting an Iyengar yoga workshop at Rishikesh. And how can I forget Parmeshwar ji who is responsible for the yoga workshop and our char dham yatra. Thank you Parmeshji. The major attraction of Rishikesh is off course the  sacred river Ganga. You will find many temples, yoga and Ayurveda centers and ashrams across the banks of river. It is considered as World Capital of Yoga as well. I haven't found the Rishikesh I heard of. It is very much crowded now and many trees in the forests have been shaved off for construction of ashrams, hotels and other commercial establishments. But still I got co