The flood that struck on the night of September 16th caused devastating devastation in many parts of Uttarakhand. The floods played such a devastating role in the Sahastradhara and Tapkeshwar Mahadev temples in Dehradun that they claimed lives and caused property worth crores. I went to Sahastradhara on September 18th to see the extent of the damage to my favorite place. Similarly, when I learned about the devastation at Tapkeshwar Mahadev, I couldn't wait any longer and finally arrived two days earlier.
It's a Monday, and Navratri also begins today. I leave home at 5 a.m. Dogs I encounter on the street bark at me so early in the morning, but they quiet down when I cross them. I wait at the bus stand for transportation, which I find half an hour later. I reach Ghanta Ghar in 30 minutes, from where I take another rickshaw to Dehradun ISBT.
By now, I've covered 15 km, and the sun is already rising from the east. The last 10 km takes 40 minutes. Once out on the road, I have to walk perhaps 2 km to reach the Tapkeshwar Temple. I saw some videos yesterday that were so horrific that I fear the temple may have suffered extensive damage. With this fear, I reach the temple gate.
I take off my shoes outside the gate, ring the bell hanging above, and descend the stairs to reach the temple. Upon reaching here, I think to myself, I'll first have a darshan of Lord Shiva and then take a look around. This temple is located inside a cave, so I bow and slowly enter the sanctum sanctorum.
There are some people here who have come to worship, like me. We all seek blessings from our deities and touch the feet of all the gods present here. People present here say that that night, the Tapasi River, also known as the Tamsa River, suddenly flooded, causing the water level to rise 40 feet. The river's water reached inside the Tapkeshwar Cave. It took three days of continuous work to clean the entire cave, allowing us to worship here today.
Coming out of the cave, I see the tragedy caused by the Tapasi River. There is a Hanuman statue here, perhaps 70 feet tall. That night, the statue was submerged up to its neck. A 1954 bridge here collapsed and was swept away by the river. Near the bridge, there is a temple of Goddess Kali, whose pillars were broken, the roof was washed away, and some small idols were also swept away by the river.
Today is the sixth day, and debris is still being cleared from the temple premises. All efforts are being made to bring life back on track. The Tapasi River is flowing only a foot or a half above its bed today, whereas that night it flowed 35-40 feet above its bed. It was a terrible night that cannot be forgotten.
The Tapkeshwar Temple is said to be 6,000 years old. This place is associated with Dronacharya and the Pandavas. It is a temple built in a cave where drops of water constantly drip, hence its name Tapkeshwar. As time progressed, the cave was maintained to prevent it from collapsing and remain intact. As time progressed, new temples were built around the cave, much closer to the river.
And perhaps we made the same mistake by covering the riverbed and building temples. I kept seeing with my own eyes that the people working at the temple were throwing all the garbage collected in the temple directly into the river, which I felt very bad about because in India we worship rivers like mothers. After the disaster, the bridge connecting the temple across the river was washed away, but now construction work on a new iron bridge is in full swing, and it will be ready in a day or two.
For now, people are crossing the wooden bridge and praying. Today, the river is calm, whereas that day, it had become furious. I hope that no new construction work takes place along the riverbank and the river's location is protected so that it has space to flow in the future. I left here at 11 o'clock.
From here, I book a taxi and reach home in the next 45 minutes. While eating breakfast, I think only about the rain, because it has caused so much destruction and it must stop now, because we humans are completely unprepared for such a tragedy.
Disclaimer: This post is originally written in Hindi and I have used Google Translator to translate the Hindi text in English. All the photos have been clicked by me from canon 77d (55-250mm) and edited on laptop lightroom app, post thumbnail created in adobe photoshop.
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