Sir George Everest

Sir George Everest

Sir George Everest was British Surveyor General of India from 1830 – 43 who spent much of his time in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand in India. The name given to the highest peak in the world is after Sir George Everest. Sir George was the successor of Col. William Laubton, the great Yorkshireman, under whom almost the major part of the subcontinent was mapped by Survey of India.

Sir George bought the Park Estate in Mussoorie located on the western edge of town in 1833 and lived here for almost a decade before retiring to England. This beautiful building was later changed to a cowshed. The Survey office of Sir George was located near Castle Hill Estate in Londour, which was acquired by the government few decades ago. The office remains neglected and needs renovation to get back to its past glory. Everest has also lived in a smaller house (now a ruin) overlooking the Doon valley, called Logarithm

Mussoorie.....read more

Interestingly, the Mount Everest name has very little to do with Sir George. After Everest’s retirement in 1843, the work of Survey of India was continued under Andrew Scott Waugh. Till 1852, the Mount Everest was not considered the highest peak in the world but was considered much lower than Kanchenjunga (8,586 mtr.). The altitude of Kanchenjunga was declared in 1840 and it was only in 1852, the survey measured Everest’s elevation as 8,839.81 mtr. The peak XV (Mt. Everest) got the pride of being highest peak in the world in 1852.

Andrew Scott Waugh wanted the peak to be named for after the name of his predecessor – Sir George Everest. Some geographers argued and expressed reservations, that the local name of the peak should be retained – Chomolungma in Tibetan. But after considerable time and debate, 1865 the mountain was given the official name as Everest and Sir George got immortalized.

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Dronagiri mountain in Himalaya

Dronagiri Update

In our last post on Dronagiri mountain and the mythical wonder herb SanjiviniButi, we had described how Lord Hanuman had ripped out one of the hilltops above the Dronagiri village and carried it away to Lanka so that the Lankan royal physician Susena could himself identify the SanjivinuButi and administer it to the mortally wounded Laxman.

That was about the SanjivaniButi, but the interesting traditions and myths surrounding Dronagiri village do not end there. We had the opportunity to meet one of the inhabitants of Dronagiri village and he was able to enlighten us about the myths and traditions of his village. Here we recount what he told us for the benefit of our readers.

It seems that when Hanuman reached Dronagiri, he sought directions from the local people about the hill-top where the SanjiviniButi could be found, but none of the men-folk were ready to disclose this secret. Hanuman then approached an old woman and recounted the plight of Laxman and Ram to her, again requesting that the hill-top be pointed out to him. The old woman was a kind soul and without saying anything she pointed a finger in the direction of the hill. We all know that thereafter Hanuman lifted the whole hilltop to Lanka when he couldn’t identify the particular herb himself.

Local tradition takes an interesting turn at this point. Since the concerned hilltop happened to be the right shoulder of Dronagiri ParvatDev, the local deity, the residents of Dronagiri no longer worship Lord Hanuman. Also, because ParvatDev was betrayed by a woman, till this day no woman may enter the temple of ParvatDev as per local tradition and they have to perform puja from a distance. The prasad of ParvatDev is also not distributed among the womenfolk of the village.

It is a fact that without exception, all villages in Uttarakhand have their own local deities. Thus it is not without reason that Uttarakhand is also known as Devbhoomi, the Land of Gods. For the most part these local deities are considered to be manifestations or avatars of Goddess Durga, Lord Shiva or Lord Vishnu. But in many places the local deity’s identity is linked to some prominent local natural spectacle or formation. Dronagiri ParvatDev is a great example of one of these.

There are two categories of local deities, there are those who are aloof and can only be worshipped. And then there are the more social ones who actually interact with their devotees through a human intermediary called a paswa. Dronagiri ParvatDev is in the latter category and during certain festivals and times he interacts with his devotee through the paswa. What is most interesting is that the paswa, who otherwise is a healthy able-bodied person, loses the use of his right arm as long as the spirit of ParvatDev is in him. The right arm just goes limp from shoulder downwards and he carries out all his activities such as distribution of Prasad etc with his left arm exclusively. It may be recalled that Lord Hanuman had ripped off a mountaintop from Dronagiri which happened to be the right shoulder of ParvatDev.

The residents of Dronagiri village will return around early May once the snow starts melting. We at Dream Mountain will be organizing a trek to this fascinating village and its surroundings sometime in the latter half of May 2016. Those who are interested in joining us can register their interest with us at Dream Mountain.

Dronagiri mountain trek

Sanjivinibuti of Dronagiri

High altitude trekking in Uttarakhand Himalayas

With the advent of spring, the snow starts melting at higher reaches of mountains in Himalaya. The adventure takes a shift towards high altitude which are above 4000 mtrs. The trek enthusiast start pondering the trek conditions of different trek routs. The few famous trek routs are Kuari pass, Nanda devi sanctuary trek, Gaumukh trek etc.

Kuari pass can be reached by four routes and one of the routes is known as Lord Curzon trek. All the treks are used for the trekking purpose. It is advisable to go in a group with guides and porters as most of the the trek routes have no habitation and any mistake may lead you to problem. The trek normally starts from April months and ends by November every year due to heavy snow fall blocking the route after November. Till April the most common route for Kuari pass is from Auli or Tapovan. The base point is Joshimath for all the trek routes except for the route from Nandaprayag.

Nanda Devi sanctuary trek also opens after the month of April and the base point is Joshimath. From Joshimath, after night halt, trekkers go to Lata village which is around 20 km from Joshimath to start the trek. The perimeter of this sanctuary is about 120 km with an area of 640 sq km. Nanda Devi sanctuary comprises of some of the most outstanding peaks of the Central Himalayas clustered between Gangotri and Milam glaciers. Among all these peaks, Nanda Devi is the most popular with its top shaped like a camel’s hump.

Although, there are many other interesting treks, but the last trek which shall be discussed is Gaumukh – Tapovan – Nandavan trek. This trek route falls in Uttarakashi district, which is also famous for the origin of the sacred river Ganga from Gaumukh. People visit Gaumukh for religious purpose, but many trek this route till Nandanvan for its scenic beauty. The total length of this trek is around 56 km, which can be completed in 5 to 6 days. The trek is surrounded by beautiful peaks like Bhagirathi peaks, Shivling mountain etc.

All the treks mentioned above are few of many treks in Uttarakhand. The journey to these treks will definitely give you immense pleasure and a total different experience of the adventure tourism. 

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Tourism related blogs

Latest tourism related news and articles 

Sanjivanibuti of Dronagiri

Uttarakhand Health Minister recently announced that he had made an appeal for funds to the Union Health Minister to enable the State government to start seriously looking for the mythological SanjivaniButi. We have no idea how seriously Delhi is pondering on this proposal but this is not the first time that attempts have been made to identify this mythological miracle herb.

Those familiar with the Ramayana will recall that during the battle of Lanka, Laxman was mortally wounded by an arrow shot by Ravan's brother Meghnad. The Lankan royal physician Susena advised that the only way to save Laxman was by administering him some lifesaving herbs that were available only in the Himalayas The herb SanjiviniButi was one of them.

     Hanuman was asked to get the herbs but not being a physician himself, he got confused on reaching Dronagiri hill with its profusion of different exotic herbs. So he did exercised the only logical option of carrying away the whole hilltop so that Susena could himself identify the required herbs. Laxman was saved but this story of the life-restoring SanjiviniButi continues to exercise our interest and imagination to this day.

      But coming back to our Health Minister's statement, we need to remember that AcharyaBalkrishna of PatanjaliYogpeeth, Haridwar has already made the claim that SanjiviniButi has been discovered and identified by a Patanjali team which visited Dronagiri village in the Himalayas for that purpose in end 2008. However, the Patanjali team was careful to couch its claims in ambigious language to convey that what the team claims to be the Sanjivinibuti is the nearest that may be interpreted to be the mythological miracle herb. The Uttarakhand government had also sent a team to Dronagiri to search for the elusive miracle and it too came back with ambigious reports.

     The inhabitants of Dronagiri village on the other hand, appear to be immune to all the excitement that is exercising the minds of the rest of the world. For them life goes on as usual in the idyllic village and they are satisfied in the knowledge that the village enjoys the benevolent gaze and protection of DronagiriParvatDev, the local deity. Of course even today they nurse an atavistic grudge against Lord Hanuman for carrying away their hilltop,because unfortunately that particular hilltop snatched away by Hanuman happened to be one of the shoulders of the ParvatDev and for that reason Hanuman is not worshipped by the inhabitants of the village. 

Dronagiri village is indeed blessed by ParvatDev by way of spectacular location and surroundings. The mountainsides above the village are rich in high-altitude herbs and a herbologist's paradise! Locals claim that it is common to see the monal(State bird of Uttarakhand) and the bharal(State animal of Uttarakhand) in the fields surrounding the village. Dronagiri is also on the way to the ChangaBanga peaks.

     At a height of around 12,000 feet, Dronagiri village is totally snowbound during winters and its inhabitants move to their winter villages(in winter, as you would have guessed), and return back to Dronagiri in early May. This year, Dream Mountain is scheduling a trek to Dronagiri area around end May or early June. The trek package will include stay in Dronagiri village, visit to base-camp of ChangaBanga, visit to Nandi Kund, exposure to local dance and culture and an introduction to the local traditional knowledge in exotic himalayan herbs.

     Those interested to join in the trek can check for our detailed programme which will be announced here. (http://www.dreammountain.net/fixed-trekking-departures/)

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Hot water springs in Uttarakhand

Hot water springs are very much in vogue for the tourists in the developed countries. In India, it is still in the underdeveloped stage. There is no systematic tourism in this sector. Uttarakhand has around 62 hot springs out of total 320 in India. The state department is taking step in the direction to develop these geo – thermal hot water into wellness spa. These places could become world class destination for the tourists interested in hot water spring spa. The whole idea is to replicate the already established system at other places. This concept of tourism is especially designed for high end tourists, the niche segment. At initial phase the places which have been selected are as follows:

1                    Gaurikund in Rudraprayag

2                    Madkot in Pithoragarh

3                    Rishikund on the way to Gangotri

4                    Suryakund in Chamoli

    

It is estimated that more than Rs. 400 crore will be spent on each destination and would take at least three years to complete. These places shall have spa complex, yoga / meditation centre, golf course, dance and aerobatics complex and amphitheatre. The implementing agency shall be Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board (UTDB), which shall be assisted by New Zealand Geo Thermal Association,  Geo thermal Institute of University of Aucland and Geological Survey of India (GSI).

The GSI has already conducted the survey of the above destinations in November, 2015 and a competent agency is also set to put the report regarding feasibility, economics and viability of these projects. The report shall cover the exact source of hot spring, analysis of fluid type / geochemical and geological understanding.

The market of hot water spring is very lucrative and is estimated around USD 50 billion and is considered one of the fastest growing tourism segments. The countries dominating this segments are China and Japan with 51% and 43% with Europe.  India hosted the first meeting of the Hot Spring Industry Forum in Delhi in October 2013 which paved the way to the formation of Global Hot Spring Initiative.

More on hot water spring please click.

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Poaching of musk deer

The lawmakers and the wildlife experts fear that the forests of Uttarakhand and Nepal – China border have become hunting ground for musk – bearing stag . Musk is a strong scented secretion glands of male musk deer, normally used for perfume and medicinal use in China and its neighbours. This very thing makes the deer vulnerable to hunters and poachers due to its demand in the international market. The population of the musk deer in Uttarakhand was 274 in 2003 and 279 in 2005. The last census was taken in the year 2008, when the count was 284 as per the official record. There are two musk deer sanctuaries in Uttarakhand – Askot (Pithoragarh district) and Kedarnath (in Chamoli and Rudraprayag district). There are no statistics on the population of the musk deer in these two sanctuaries.

The hunters and poachers of India and Nepal hunt the deer and coordinate closely to make trade on the musk pod. The animal parts are smuggled from this area to other places of commercial interests.   Due to lack of forest staff, the poachers have easily been carrying out this activity. The poachers set forests on fire to disturb the habitats of the deer, and snare those that come out in order to escape the fire. There have been the cases of seizing the musk pods from the poachers. The last musk pod was seized in 2014. Prior to that, in 2012, two musk pods were seized.  The districts – Chamoli, Uttarakashi, Pithoragarh and Bageshwar are vulnerable to this poaching. 

The weight of the musk pod is around 100-250 grams making it is to carry. So, it’s not very difficult to smuggle this item on the borders. The solution to resolve this problem lies by strengthening the information between forest, police, informers etc.  As per the official record, against sanctioned positions of forest guard of 3650, only 2700 have been filled. So, by improving the networking and strengthening the areas where there are vacuums, this menace can be prevented. 

For related article, please click.       

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New evidences of snow leopards in Uttarakhand

The Uttarakhand forest department found evidence of the presence of snow leopards in six valleys during the survey conducted to study the population of the endangered cat in the upper reaches, an official said on Monday (8^th Febraury, 2016). The 15-day survey in June 2015 – the first in the state to map the population of the endangered high – altitude species – was conducted in the hill state and the evidences of its presence were found in six, said Uttarakhand chief wildlife warden.

The snow leopard, a species found at an altitude of 3,000 m, is a Schedule I animal under Wildlife Protection Act of India and is listed as
“endangered” by International Union for Conservation of Nature. Uttakhand is among the five states in the country, including Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh where snow leopards have been sighted. Presence of snow leopard has been recorded on the camera traps in Gangotri and Nanda Devi earlier. However, this is the first time that their evidence in 6 valleys out of 16 has been recorded.

Thirty nine pieces of evidence, including dropping and scats were found. The dropping will be sent for DNA analysis. DNA analysis will help subtract duplication and identify the number snow leopards. With all these findings, it is expected that the state will now be covered under the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection programme that includes 12 range countries, where the elusive the big cats are found.

Through this project, the forest department shall be able to do better habitat management of the species. In 2013, 12 snow leopard large countries including India, Russia, Afghanistan, China, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan signed the ambitious Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Programme in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Conservationists say the number of snow leopards have decreased due to the receding snowline and poaching in the hill state. The lack of population map of snow leopards in Uttarakhand had created a hurdle for the state’s inclusion in the project Snow Leopard launched by the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change in 2009. Under the project, state had to identify the snow leopard habitats and draft management plans. The Centre, under the project, provides funds for the research, including the use of camera traps and satellite collaring to collect more data on the elusive big cat. Snow leopard prefer steep rugged habitat with broken terrains, rocky outcrops. These landscape give the elusive cats a clear view and good cover to hunt the prey.    

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