Mar 22, 2016

Trip to Dehradun - Sahasar Dhara.   # 1
March 22, 2016

The shortest flight in a commercial airplane for me was from Delhi to Dehradun. It lasted 30 minutes in an Airbus 320 jet. It took the plane 12 minutes to climb to its cruise altitude, later 12 minutes to descend and five minutes of normal cruise. No tea or coffee was served, only safety announcements were made and then the descent began.

Dehradun did not appeal to me. It appeared like any other city in India, very dusty, crowded, bad traffic and misaligned roads (sea foot note), hence we headed straight to "Sahasar Dhara", about 15 km outside the city thru winding roads with multitude of hairpin curves. We descended down about two thousand feet in a valley surrounded by high mountain on three sides. A steady stream of water is flowing in the valley. That flow of water is known for ages as Sahasar Dhara.

(Note:  There are exceptions in Dehradun also like Anil Kant's house. I did not go there but from the pictures it is a heaven on the earth)

In the final year of my college, I was here at Sahasar Dhara. I could not recognize anything now. Before; there were a few tea stalls, may be a shop to sell gifts etc. now there is a full shopping district with restaurants, gift shops, children rides
and many other things. Best of all, there is a rope way going about 1500 feet from the valley floor to a bit of flat land in the hill above. Rope way ride is a pleasure. When you land at the flat land, you are greeted with pleasurable sight of garden, a tiny water fall, a restaurant and surprise of all, two temples. I do not believe anything was here prior, but myth makers have tailored a myth of this place being a site of ancient deity, Durga Maa. Another temple of Sai Baba is more majestic. Deities in both the temples are made of white marble, and appear to be recent carvings, hence the myth is a bit of a long shot.

My question to the priest was that why is this place called Sahsar Dhara. His explanation was that the water which is flowing below in the valley is made up of a thousand or more tiny streams of water originating inside of the three sides of the mountains, which gives it, its name. I visited another Shiva temple on the valley floor and myself saw hidden water stream under the deity and joining the main flow. That probably confirms that a multitude of tiny streams are joining to make Sahasar Dhara.

We all came down to the valley floor and headed towards a group of temples, which the locals described it as dating back to Mahabharata story. Guru Dronacharya worshiped here in a cave, which now is a Shiva temple. The modest cave with low ceiling will have difficulty accommodating a man, but I wish not to challenge the myth hence continued to pay respect and headed to the next temple. It is a temple of Godess Durga. I paid my respect and went to the next. It turned out to be the temple of "Bhairava", the God of justice. I could not avoid paying respect at this temple. I am afraid of law, hence I want him on my side in case of legal troubles.

Temple trip was over at this particular location and we drove thru the main shopping district at Sahasar Dhara. I could not avoid finding a Gurudwars, a Budhist temple side by side the Hindu temples full of myths.

As I was contemplating to write, water was continuously flowing in the streams. We got into our car and headed towards Mussoorie. I was disappointed that I did not see the rice fields where famous brand of Dehradun rice is planted and grown. I shall return and pass thru these fields on my way back from Mussoori. Until then......

Cheers


Hari Sud