Sacred Landscape and Setting

Most parts of Garhwal have a sacred landscape and setting. Their sacred ness is associated with gods or mythological personalities, saints and mythological or historical events. Some examples are outlined in the following text:

1. Gangotri is connected with the legendary place from where the
holy Ganga descended on the earth.

2. Lakhamandal in Jaunsar-Bawar area is believed to be the
place where Duryodhan tried to burn the Pandavas in the house constructed of Lac.

3. The Sages Agastya, Kapil, Parashar, Dattatreya and Vishwa-
mitra are connected with the townships of Agastamuni, Srinagar, Par-
kandi, Dewalgarh and Rudraprayag.

4. The  Sikh Guru Gobind Singh performed austerities at Hemkund in
upper Garhwal.

5. Many places in Garhwal are connected with the Pandavas, e.g.
Deoprayag, Lakshman jhula, Rishikesh, Tapovan, Muni-ki-Reti,
Karanprayag and Pandukeshwar.

6. Many temples revered by Hindus all over the world are situated in Garhwal. These include Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, Yamunotri, Rudraprayag, Karanprayag and Takeshwar.

7. Hundreds of temples of various gods and goddesses are situated on the top of hills in all parts of this mountainous region, e.g. Tungnath, Surkanda, Rudranath, Kinkeoleshwar and Ansuiya Mata.

8. The holy river Ganga rises in and flows through Garhwal before it enters the plains. Many sacred or holy towns have come up along this river and its tributaries, e.g. Rishikesh, Deoprayag, Gaumukh, Uttarkashi, Rudraparyag and Badrinath.

Impact of Environment on Religion

The environment and natural setting of Garhwal has had a tremendous impact on religion. Even though various forms of Vishnu and Shiva are widely worshipped, local gods and goddesses are also highly revered in this mountainous region. Life in the hills is hazardous and full of calamities, due to the difficult terrain and climatic conditions. The local deities are popularly worshipped out of fear and awe.

It is believed that the deities can protect people from dangers such as
falling from a steep cliff, or being washed away in a flash flood. Most people of Garhwal (both educated and uneducated) are worshippers of local deities together with Shaivism, Shaktism and Vaishnavism. 

Our ancestors, who explored and developed pilgrim routes to shrines of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri developed respect, awe and reverence towards the mountainous environment of Garhwal.

Local gods and goddesses are believed to live in the following
cultural settings:

• high mountain passes; tops of ridges
• thundering waterfalls
• snow-clad peaks whose tops seem to touch the skies
• rivers, streams and lakes; confluence of rivers and streams,
• origin of rivers and streams
• places where sages and saints have meditated in the past.

Migration and Religion

Migration of various ethnographical groups have had an impact
the religious faith and practices in Garhwal. This has been amply
brought out in the following points:

1. People living in the high and inaccessible valleys have maintai-
ned their particular and original religious forms to a considerable
extent upto the present times.

2. In the upper tracts of Garhwal, there is a profound impact of
Buddhism, as the people living in these areas may have migrated from
Tibet. They have had trade links with Tibet, where a special form of Buddhism is prevalent.

3. People believing in snake worship have settled in many interior valleys of Garhwal. Many people adhere to this faith at present.

4. People who worship Mahasu Devta migrated to Garhwal from
the west and settled in the valleys of the rivers Yamuna and Tons.
They have maintained their separate identity even to this day.

5. Shaivism and Shaktism form the earliest substratum of religion
in Garhwal. These have been influenced by people migrating to and
from this hilly region.

Religious Faiths of Garhwal

The basic religious faiths of the dominant Hindu population of
Garhwal has been discussed in the following text:

i. Shaivism

The worship of Lord Shiva is believed to be one of the basic religious faiths of the people of Garhwal. According to Nityanand and Kumar (1989), there are three hundred and fifty Shiva temples in different parts of Garhwal.

The symbol of the Shivling, too, may have been taken from the shape of horned peaks in the northern mountain wall of Garhwal. Nityanand and Kumar (1989) state, "the popular deities of the hill people were brought into the wider fold of Shaivism by improving and extending the rituals and assimilating all these local faiths into the highly complicated Hinduism. Thus, a curious blending of pre-Vedic, Vedic and Buddhist sects has taken place. Shiva is associated with goblins, demons and spirits and all the beings that might have been
connected with aboriginal religions."

Deities connected with Shiva are considered to be the guardians
and protectors of the faith. They are guards at His shrines. Bhairon is
the protector at most Shiva shrines; Kal Bhairav at Tunganath; Ghan-
takarna at Badrinath and Bhairav at Kedarnath.

Important Shiva temples in Garhwal are located at Kedarnath,
Madh Maheshwar, Tungnath, Rudranath, Kalpeshwar, Uttarkashi,
Gopeshwar, Yamunotri, Srinagar, Pauri, Rudraprayag, Karanprayag,
Sonprayag and Deoprayag.

2. Shaktism

The Goddess Durga and her various forms are worshipped in Shaktism. The Goddess is widely worshipped in different parts of the Garhwal hills. According to Nityanand and Prasad (1989), one hundred and thirty temples of Durga and her various forms are located in Garhwal.

Important temples of Durga and her forms are located at the
following places in Garhwal:
-- Mahakali, Mahasaraswati, Mahalaxmi and Hargauri at Kalimath in the Mandakini valley.
-- Surkanda devi temple near Dhanolti (Musoorie)
-- Chandrabadani Devi on the Hindolakhal-Tehri road
-- Durga temple at Phagu in Kaliphat
-- Durga temple at Bichala Nagaur
-- Bhawani temple in Talla Udaipur
-- Kalbangwara Durga temple, where the Goddess defeated and killed Rakta Beej.
-- Chamunda temple at Biraun; Bichla Nagpur and Udaipur Patti (Khaera)
-- Jwalpadevi temple at Srinagar
-- Gauri temple at Tapovan
-- Nav Durga temple at Joshimath
-- Shitala devi temples at Srinagar and Ajabpur (Dehradun)

The Goddess Durga is worshipped with great reverence on nine days in spring, and autumn (just before Dushera). These days are known as nau-durga and are considered to be very auspicious for marriages and other ceremonies.

3. Vaishnavism

Worship of the Lord Vishnu is known as Vaishnavism. Badrinath is considered to be the seat of Lord Vishnu. It is believed that Badrinath was a place of holy pilgrimage even before the beginning of the Christian era. There is mention of Badrinath in holy scriptures like the Mahabharat. Panini has referred to both Badrinath and Kedarnath as fully developed.

When Shankaracharya came to Badrinath, the statue of Lord Vishnu (Badri Vishal) was missing, as the priests had thrown it in the Narad Kund, due to the constant threat of recurrent attacks by Tibetans in the north. The statue was retrieved and established in the temple by Shankara- charya. On its left and right are the statues of Nar and Narayan. In front of the temple of Badrinath is the statue of Garud.

There are about 61 main Vishnu temples in various parts of Garhwal. Some of these are listed below:
-- Badri Vishal temple at Badrinath
-- Vishnu temple at Vishnuprayag
-- Narayan temple at Nandprayag
-- Murlimanohar temple at Chandrapuri (Mandakini valley)
-- Bhavishya Badri temple at Subhain near Tapovan
-- Dhyan Badri or Yog Badri temple at Pandukeshwar
---Narsingh temple at Joshimath

4. Other forms of Worship

Other forms of worship in Garhwal are:

a) Snake worship: The descendants of the Nagas who lived in Garhwal in ancient times still worship the snake. Several important snake temples are located in this region. Some examples are:

-- Shesh Nag temple at Pandukeshwar
-- Bhekal Nag at Ratgaon
-- Sangal Nag at Talor
-- Bampa Nag at Margaon
-- Lohandev Nag at Jelam in the Niti valley
-- Pushkar Nag at Nagnath in Nagpur patti
---Baman Nag at Nag Sidh in the Dehradun valley.

b) Karna worship: Karna worship is prevalent in the Jaunsar- Bawar area of western Garhwal.

c) Sameshwar or Duryodhan worship: Duryodhan is worshipped in the upper valleys of the rivers Tons, Yamuna, Bhagirathi, Balganga and Bhilangana.

d) Mahasu worship: Prevalent in the Yamuna and Bhagirathi valleys of the western Garhwal.

Buddhism: Many tribes (e.g. Bhotias) living in upper Garhwal are Buddhists as they have been in contact with Tibetans very frequently in the past.