Holi is after 2 days and I always try to visit the temple before Holi and Diwali festivals. Although I am not so fond of visiting the temples located in the city, but when it comes to the Himalayas, I happily want to visit every temple. So before Holi, I plan to visit "Tapakeshwar Mahadev Temple" located in Dehradun, the capital of Uttarakhand state.
This temple is on the banks of Asan Nahi and the origin of this river is a waterfall named Bhatt Fall and this waterfall originates from the bottom of Mussoorie, Asan River is called Tons River at its origin. So I very much feel like attending the Aarti of Tapkeshwar Temple, and this is because in January I had gone to Haridwar and attended the evening Aarti at Har Ki Pauri. Everything was good and the atmosphere was also religious but what I did not like was that the Pandits did not perform the Aarti by mouth but instead performed the Aarti by listening to the sound coming from the music system. I was very sad to see that at least in this city of Gods, Aarti could be performed by mouth singing.
Last week our acquaintance had gone to Tapkeshwar temple and he told me on WhatsApp that the aarti in Tapkeshwar temple is sung through mouth. This was all I wanted and decided that this time on Holi I will go to Tapkeshwar temple. So Tapkeshwar literally means 'drop', it would be better to call it a cave than calling it a temple. And drops of water drip from the ceiling of this cave on Shivling, hence it has got the name of Tapkeshwar Mahadev. Due to the geographical environment here, the water of the mountains is rich in sulphur, hence this temple was also sometimes called Dudheshwar Mahadev.
There is a cave here and the story associated with it is that in ancient times, Guru Dronacharya had performed penance here and this cave is named Dronacharya Cave after him. Whenever Hindu festivals come, fairs and grand pujas are organized at this temple.
Well let's move ahead, I wanted to go on Saturday but could not go due to work commitments. Then the next day on Sunday, after washing my clothes, I book a taxi and leave in the evening. It is a different matter that I get late even in leaving, so I tell the taxi driver in advance to take me to the temple by 7 o'clock. To which the taxi driver said that we will reach in 30 minutes. There is a jam on the way and the time becomes 06:50. I start getting worried thinking that I will not be able to reach the time of Aarti.
It's 7 o'clock before the traffic gets cleared and as soon as I get down from the car, I run towards the temple, quickly descend the stairs, reach the gate, take off my shoes and quickly enter the cave of the temple. There are already a lot of devotees here and all are waiting for the Aarti to happen. Thankfully I reached on time. Right now Shivalinga is being decorated for worship. I click a photo or two while sitting. After all the decorations are completed, the Pandit comes and starts the Aarti at 07:30 minutes. Suddenly the sound starts echoing in the entire cave. While on one side, the words of “Shiv Aarti” are falling in the ears, on the other hand, the sound of bells is coming, somewhere the sound of loud drum is being heard in the entire cave.
Shiva Aarti, Damru and the flow of collective energy is very strong. I find myself getting goosebumps. It feels as if something is running very fast throughout the body. I am happy that I could reach on time and experience this wonderful feeling. After completion of Aarti, prasad was given to everyone, I also took the prasad and went out after saying “Happy Holi” to Mahadev. There is a brass statue of Shiva outside which is shining like a bulb in the moonlight. I spend some time in all the temples and finally come out wearing shoes.
Just outside the gate, there are two huge banyan trees and the special thing about both of them is that their branches are entwined with each other as if they were always connected. Seeing this picturesque view, I move towards the road to take a taxi. By now it is 9 o'clock in the night and it took me 20 minutes of walking to reach the road. From the road, I take a taxi to my home and enjoy the holy festival of Holi the next day.
I hope that this visit to Tapkeshwar temple will give you peace. Now I am leaving and will meet you in the next post, till then stay happy and keep having fun.
Disclaimer: This post is originally written in Hindi and I have used Google Translator to tranlate the Hindi text in English. All the photos have been clicked by me from android poco f1 and edited in Lightroom/photoshop.