Will Kalp Kedar, Dharali’s enduring temple, rise again?

When James Baillie Fraser, the first European to trek to Gangotri and Gomukh, visited Dharali on July 22, 1815, he was surprised to find it deserted. He later learned that the villagers had gone to retrieve 500 stolen sheep from a neighbouring area. Fraser did not mention the ancient Kalp Kedar temple of Dharali in his book ‘Journal of a Tour through Part of the Snowy Range of the Himala Mountains’.

In 1865, renowned British photographer Samuel Bourne reached the Bhagirathi valley to document the source of the Ganga at Gaumukh. He became the first photographer to set foot in the valley and capture an image of the Kalp Kedar temple. A pioneer of early photography, Bourne went on to establish studios in Kolkata and Shimla.

Now, flash floods have completely buried and damaged Dharali village, rendering the iconic Kalp Kedar temple invisible. In the past too, the temple was struck by flash floods and buried under debris.

According to legend, the Kalp Kedar temple was built by the Pandavas. Dedicated to Lord Shiva, it remains a major attraction in the region.

Ace Indian mountaineer Dr Harshwanti Bisht says, “When I was doing a mountaineering course at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering in Uttarkashi in 1981, the Kalp Kedar temple was buried under debris, with only its top part visible. In 2010, when I visited Dharali again, I saw that the rubble had been cleared and one could enter the temple.”

Natural disasters have struck the Kalp Kedar temple many times, most recently in 2013, when it was buried under debris and slush. Yet, the shrine has managed to rise every time. Even now, villagers remain hopeful, claiming that a small portion of the temple is still visible.

(The writer is a senior journalist based in Uttarakhand)