Kanvashram is a little known place close to Kotdwar in Uttarakhand
Mode of reaching Karnvashram -
By Train:
Kanvashram is a little known place close to Kotdwar in Uttarakhand. It is a five-hour drive from Delhi. You can reach the location by a night train - Mussorie Express which leaves Old Delhi station every day at 10:20 p.m. Get down at Kotdwar (arrival about 6 a.m.) and then either walk the 12-kilometre stretch to Kanvashram or hire a four-wheeler which will take half an hour. Tell the driver to take you to the tourist bungalow.
By Road:
To reach Kanvashram from Delhiby four wheeler, one needs to take the Delhi-Meerut road (not the bypass); flip to Meerut-Najibabad route and from Najibabad Kotdwar is about 12 km which all the way takes to 7 hrs.
By Air:
The nearest airport for reaching Kanvashram is Pauri (Jolly Grant (155 kms)) where again from Pauri should goto Kotdwar, 108 kms from Pauri is one of the rail terminus for Garhwal region.
Accomodation -
There are two guest-houses there that look into a spacious front courtyard overlooking the stream and a village. The food can be arranged with the help of a local villager who runs a canteen in the guest-house.
Online accomodation can be booked:
www.adventure-pilgrimage-india-tours.com/kanvashram-hotel-reservation.html
History -
It is an important place from the historical and archaeological point of view. It is believed that Sage Vishwamitra meditated here. Indra, the king of Gods, was scared by his intense meditation, and sent an Apsara named Menka to distract him. After prolonged efforts Menka finally succeeded in getting Vishwamitra's attention. She later gave birth to a girl, Shakuntala and returned to the Heaven. Shakuntla got married to Dushyantthe, King of Hastinapur, and gave birth to Bharat, the prince after whom our country is called Bharat.
The story of Dushyant's encounter, marriage, separation and reuniting with his queen, Shakuntala, has been immortalized in The Recognition of Sakuntala by the great Sanskrit poet Kalidasa.The Recognition of Sakuntala is a Sanskrit play by Kalidasa. ...
According to one legend, Bharata was the son of King Dushyanta and Shakuntala and thus a descendant of the Lunar Dynasty of the kshatriya creed. Both he and Bharata, the son of Rishabha (see below), are believed to be the person after whom India was named Bharatavarsha. He was originally christened Sarvadamana (subduer of all); the Mahabharata traces the events in his life by which he came to be known as Bharata (the Cherished). Dushyanta (or Dushyant) was an ancient king in Indian history/mythology. ... The Recognition of Sakuntala is a play in Sanskrit written by Kalidasa. ... The Kshatriyas, or the warrior and king caste in Hindu society, are divided principally into two houses: of descent from the Sun (Surya), or the Moon (Soma). ... According to the code of Manu, a Kshatriya is a member of the military or reigning order, one of four varna within the Vedic system of four groups or castes. ... Bharatavarsha (Bharat or Bharatvarsha) is the name in Sanskrit, Hindi and the languages of India for the World, but properly the Indian subcontinent. ...
Our Trip -
While talking on where to freak out next on our Saturday Sunday near Delhi, we came across a
wonderful description of this place in one of the travel books. Instant decision was taken for the
same and we started from Delhi on Saturday morning. We took the Delhi Haridwar NH24 road, after
some 3-4 hrs the crowded and over populated route was left behind and we started enjoying the
beauty of nature (trees, wood - which was a common scene in my childhood but is a luxury to watch
now for metro settled people)
Enjoying a hot tea near one of the petrol pump chai wala, we reached on a way to Kotdwar, there we
called up the GMVN guest house number which was printed on the online accommodation slip we had
with us, got Kotdwar's manager number and he in turn updated us with the path and exact way to
reach our destination, he somehow managed to scare us that its a tough road and you will be lost,
better take a guide.
We were rather excited on the description but after turning left from Kotdwar
found a good straight road to Karnvashram, after going 9 km there was a right turn which took us
directly from the village to the guest house on the mountain (a small hill).
A shallow river was flowing by (Malini). We had mainly come looking forward for tracking.
After reading we had imagined a lot about the place, but it was a bit of disappointment to reach
there. The river flowing by, mountains, woods, imagination had taken us to some heaven kind of a
thing and reaching there we discovered it was a sweet simple hilly mountain area. After going some
rounds we reached the GMVN guest house, which unfortunately is not maintained in a good shape,
might be due to hardly being a commercial traveler place. Food and all was a problem there cauz it
was not easily available. Was arranged on prerequisite to the caretaker of the guesthouse.
For us, the daredevil travelers it was not a setback...we started exploring things around and came
to know that there was the ashram of Karnv Rishi, below is the ashram ..
and the sun vanishing in the evening from that point of earth ...
a Yoga and aaurveda school, and some temples near by. First day we visited these places
and were prepared for the next day morning tracking.
Morning view from our guesthouse .......
The water heating system of the guesthouse, which we managed to get after repeated requests
and standing on the head of the caretaker....
The wow and tasty breakfast which made us survive on the track ....
The bonfire we enjoyed on the first night in guest house....
The locals ......hardworking women and the lazy men .......
A view from stones....
A local boy washing hands from the water flowing between stone walls....
Monkey near our room .......
Second Morning ---
Two local kids from the guest house gave us company (guide). It was a good start,
for the IT sector ppl who hardly ever walk other than the necessary,
it was a looong and challenging way...the beginning was a broad mountain path where all the
time we used to stop by to admire the beautiful valley around and below
....cautioning the group to watch our steps.......we were told stories of elephants and tiger
roaming around by the kids, claiming the elephant to be their friend.
It was supposed to be a 5-6 km one way track on which we were to cross a white and red bridge.
The main attraction was the waterfall they had promised to show us....the not so shallow not so deep but with a good flow ..
Pure River Manili creating beautiful music while playing with the rocks n stones in her way....
was breathtaking view.
The track was a magical journey which made our trip worth visiting again. Beauty of water pouring
from rocks, tall tree leaves making music, the jhann jhann of Manili ...all added up to a
contended walk .....then came a way where it was soooo narrow that we were finally giving way and
the local kids also said they never went beyond that (we kept our cameras' and all inside and
concentrated totally on crossing the way, so no snaps of that route) ....
but our luck met us with one baba ..
A local old man going from one village to the other through that way. He became our guardian angle.
He was like...if u wish I can take u there to the waterfall and even to the caves where bharat was
born and where its very difficult to reach......the steps were sooo difficult, narrow, slippery
and hardly a place to keep the foot or grab with hand, but his words 'believe in the mountain' and
keep walking, motivated us to go further. He told us about the 'sita ke kesh' that when Sita was
going in the earth after Ram didn't accept her, Ram tried to stop her by pulling her left hair,
but she went in the earth. The grass is called same Sita ke baal which were left on earth. Its
said its very strong and keep these people going on the mountains, we tested its strength and to
our surprise, the tiny grass was very deep routed giving us the needed support to pass that narrow
path. Somehow we managed to escape without anyone tumbling below in the stones or water and we
escaped a holiday next day in office. Then came the place where the waterfall was expected.
Well to our surprise it was not a heavy flowing water but droplets falling down from a very magical
green area....it was full of kai and some kind of grass and lots of stones, narial, etc which made
this place a magical ...just wow....
soil was cold and still I can feel the moist cold below my feet and the droplets falling on me.......
we were transformed and taken into a different world.
Hello...come back....Babaji told us to hurry if we wanted to come with him since he had to go to
his destination after taking us to the bank of Malini below. So again started the slippery way on
rocks to the river below.....
And there we were falling and enjoying the cold Malini water......the music on rocks.....the
beauty of pure mountains ....away from the dirt of Delhi.
Some time later we were reminded it was time to go back to our own world ....so we started the
track back to the village and get in our gaddhi to Delhi route....
On the way back .....Haridwar.....to be conti....
Thank you hai Amit .......Udaipur is on its way since loooong..still in draft version ..need to complete that one..u can help out!!!
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Jyotsna
The way you naratted the whole trip is really good and along with the pictures it almost seems that I am there.......keep writing,
cheers
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Thanks Amita for the visit and appreciation, your views are valuable
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like the narration on this travelogue good work!
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Thanks.......need to work on my writing..have not been able to capture the fun we had there but yeah ....pics came out good.....
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Wow!!it's a wonderful tavelogue..Pics are really beautiful..Specially that of Setting Sun is just amazing
....enjoyed it.....yash
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