Three week long Nanda Devi Raj Jat is one of the world famous festivals of Uttarakhand in India People from entire Garhwal division-Kumaon division as well as other parts of India and the world participate in Nanda Devi Raj Jat Yatra.[2] Goddess Nanda Devi is worshipped at dozens of places in Kumaon and garhwal, but the region around Mt. Nanda Devi and its sanctuary, which falls in the Pithoragarh district, Almora district and Chamoli district, is the prime area related to Nanda Devi. In Chamoli Nanda Devi Raj Jaat is organized once in 12 years. The Jaat starts from Nauti village near Karnprayag and goes up to the heights of Roopkund and Homekund with a four horned sheep. After the havan – yagna is over, the sheep is freed with decorated ornaments, food and clothings and the other offerings are discarded.
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Four Reason To book the Pilgrimage Yatra with Us ? we are leading Adventure Company who are operating many trekking trips in this region so our team know all the routes with campside and help in all way while trekking on this pimgrimage route.
| Local support and Qualified Trained team who are on this route since 1989 | Best Equipments, tents, sleeping bags etc.. & cooking team and HAP supports on trek | Self Rescue team & Eco responsible team lash with all sufficient rescue equipments | Support of Base Camp team with control room which have direct contact with all Team |
Night Hault Information of Nanda Devi Raaj Jat Yatra
“Only Trek Part”
| No. | Night Hault | Distance(km) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Drive to Mundoli | —- |
| 2 | Mundoli to Vaan | 20.2 |
| 3 | Vaan to Geroli Patal | 6.8 |
| 4 | Geroli Patal to Patar Nachoniya | 6.9 |
| 5 | Patar Nachoniya to Sila Samundra | 3 |
| 6 | Sila Samundra to ChandniyaGhat | 12.3 |
| 7 | ChandniyaGhat to Sutol | 20.9 |
| 8 | Sutol to Ghat | 18 |
| 9 | Ghat to Rishikesh | 265 |
| Rupees 40000 per person.
|
Option Two ::
Full details of Yatra From Day one to Last Day
| DAY | DATE | JOURNEY | ALTITUDE(METERS ABOVE SEA LEVEL) | DISTANCE IN KM |
| 1. | 29-08-2013 | Nauti to Iravadhani | 1240 | 10 |
| 2. | 30-08-2013 | Iravadhani to Nauti | 1650 | 10 |
| 3. | 31-08-2013 | Nauti to Kansuwa | 1530 | 10 |
| 4. | 01-09-2013 | Kansuwa to Sem | 1530 | 10 |
| 5. | 02-09-2013 | Sem to Koti | 1630 | 10 |
| 6. | 03-09-2013 | Koti to Bhagoti | 1500 | 12 |
| 7. | 04-09-2013 | Bhagoti to Kulsari | 1050 | 12 |
| 8. | 05-09-2013 | Kulsari to Chepdyun | 1165 | 10 |
| 9. | 06-09-2013 | Chepdyun to Nandkesari | 1200 | 05 |
| 10. | 07-09-2013 | Nandkesari to Faldiagaon | 1480 | 10 |
| 11. | 08-09-2013 | Faldiagaon to Mundoli | 1750 | 10 |
| 12. | 09-09-2013 | Mundoli to Vaan | 2450 | 15 |
| 13. | 10-09-2013 | Vaan to Gairoli Patal | 3032 | 10 |
| 14. | 11-09-2013 | Gairoli Patal to Pathar Nachauniyan | 3650 | 12 |
| 15. | 12-09-2013 | Pathar Nachauniyan to Shila Samudra | 4210 | 15 |
| 16. | 13-09-2013 | Shila Samudra to Homkund (4450) for Nandanavmi and return to Chandniaghat at 10:45AM after pooja. | 4010 | 16 |
| 17. | 14-09-2013 | Chandniaghat to Sutol | 2192 | 18 |
| 18. | 15-09-2013 | Sutol to Ghat | 1331 | 25 |
| 19. | 16-09-2013 | Ghat to Nauti(By Bus) | 1650 | 60 |
| Total Days :- 19 :: Rupees 90000 per head Total Distance :- 280KM |
Nanda Devi Rajjat Yatra
The Jaat starts from Nauti village and goes up to the heights of Roopkund and Homekund with a four horned Ram .Whenever ram of fours horns take birth, the news is communicated immediately to kansuwa village and the kunwar (Royal family) Weaves the Chintoli- the Umbrella of bamboo (one Kind of bamboo species) and reach as the nautiyal at nauti village and seek the blessing of raj jat at nauti on the day of basant panchami. After the havan – yagna is over, the Ram decorated with ornaments, food and clothings and the other offerings are dischared.
Nanda Devi Raj Jaat Yatra is a festival that stretches for whole three weeks. It is one such Uttarakhand festival that is globally famous. Innumerable people participate in Nanda Devi Raj Jat Yatra from the Garhwal-Kumaon region, the rest of the country.
Goddess Nanda Devi is a popular deity at many places of Garhwal & Kumaon region of Uttarakhand. Nanda Devi Raj Jat is organised once in every 12 years in Chamoli after royal priests’ descendents and the Kunwar royal family make elaborate preprations in the village of Nauti and in Kansuwar respectively. It is primarily a religious pilgrimage spanning for 280 kilometer. The trek takes about 20 days to be completed.
This Raj jat yatra originates from the Nauti village 20 km of Karnaprayag tehsil of Indian state of Uttarakhand. The Kunwar of village Kansua inaugurates the ceremony. The legend is this that Nanda Devi, consort of Lord Shiva left her village and went to the nanda devi parbat. Therefore when the yatra starts, heavy rain occurs as if the devi is crying. This yatra covers many villages and in between the Devi meets her sister in the Bhagwati village.
This yatra is very tough on account the landscape it goes through. In between the yatra there comes a Lake Roopkund where lies the hundreds of skeletons. It is said that once the King took some dancers to this sacred place due to which heavy snow fell and people died and the dancers got transformed into stone which can be sen in Patarnachonia. The other myth is this that king Yasodhwal’s wife was pregnant and while she was giving birth to her child, her placenta flowed down to Roopkund and this in turn caused the death of the people on that place. That is why the river Nandakini lost her significance and the Nandprayag is not considered sacred as the other Panch Prayags like Devprayag, Vishnuprayag, Karanprayag and Rudraprayag.
How to reach :
By Air : If you want to attend Nanda devi Raj Jat yatra in 2013, nearest airport are jolly Grant Airport Dehradun in Garhwal and Pantnagar in Kumaun region of Uttarakhand.
By Rail : The nearest railway stations are Rishikesh in Dehradun District, Haridwar, Dehradun and Kotdwar in Pauri distict in Garhwal . If you want to go from kumaun than nearest railway stations is Kathgodam near Haldwani.Other station is Tanakpur where trains comes from Bareli.
By Road : If you want to go by bus than chamoli distict is well connected with dehradun, haridwar and Rishikesh .From Kumaun Chamoli distict is connected with Rudrapur, Ramnagar and Tanakpur. Main station of this Yatra is Karanprayag which is connected with Garhwal and Kumaun. We can also attend the yatra from Chandpur gadi, Ujwalpur, Nandkesari and Tharali.These are the night hault of this Yatra.
ABOUT YATRA :: source link copyright shrinandarajjat2013.com
The legend of the nanda Devi Raj Jat is an important event from spritual point of view as the shrines of Nanda Devi are scattered all over the Central Himalayas.
The Devi is considered as the Isht-Devi, by the hill folk. The royal family of Garhwal conducts the Nanda Raj Jat to please the Isht-Devi, in order to seek blessings for a prosperous kingdom and the defeat of their enemies. Her relationsh with the people is just the same as that of Sita with Mithila; similarly Gaura is Know to be the daughter of Uttarakhand. Daughter of the king of mountains, Himavat.
Gaura was married to ash-smeared, leopard skin wearing yogi. It is popularly believed that according to the Indian calendar, during the Krishna Paksha of Bhado ( 2nd week of August ) the Devi visits her mother’s place and the event is celebrated with the performance of special rituals and prayers on Nanda Ashtami in the numerous Nanda Devi temples spread all over the Garhwal and Kumaon regions.
Genesis of the tradition The event marks the coming of Nanda Devi to her mother’s place (mait). During this time Uttarakhand reverberates with festivities. The event finishes when the people of her maiti (mother home), escort her in a procession is called the Nanda Jat. The entire scene is beautifully protrayed in the folk songs and jagars sung by the woman of Uttarakhand. Such Nanda jats are held in almost all the places in the hills, where there is a Nanda Devi temple. Every Garhadhipatis in the hills took out Nanda Jats to place the Isht -Devi. Every Twelve years the Nanda Raj Jat replaces the annual Raj Jat on the route of Homkund, from the temple of Nanda Devi. The dolis of other devtas also know as the ‘Birs of Nanda Devi’ also join the Raj Jat..The Goril dev of Kumaon and the Lattu Dev of Bandhan are the prominent devtas. The Nanda Raj Jat war started by ancestors of Rajas of Garhwal. The ancient tradition of taking out Nanda Jats among all the Garhadhipatis, was combined by the raja into a Royal pilgrimage every twelve years. Raja ajay Pal (shesh Pal) of Chandgarh started the nanda Raj Jat in 15 century. Since then, the royal family takes the pilgrimage along with their purohit to seek forgiveness from Nanda Devi, and offer ‘Tarpan’ for the ancestors who had died at the Roopkund, along with his pregnant wife and courtesans.
Nanda in History The genesis of Nanda Devi is not very clear. Folk lyrics suggest that Nanda was a princess of the Chanda dynasty of Almora. Some people associate the Goddess with Yog Maya, the daughter of Nanda, who replaced the eighth issye of Vasudev ( father of Krishna ) and who escaped from the hands of her assailant, Kansa and forewarned him of his impending death at the hands of Lord Krishna. There is no mention of Nanda in the Payranas or other scriptures. However, certain later inscriptions mention a Goddess with names similar to Nanda. The Goddess finds mention in Sanskrit literature. Some very old statues found in Mathura show one Goddess as Eknansha. Accordingly, some people believe that the same Goddess was subsequently regarded as Nanda. Naini (of Nainital) and Naina (of Himachal Pradesh) also appear to be variants of the same Goddess. There are ancient temples of the Goddess at about twenty places all over Garhwal. Similar temples are found in Almora region also.
The Legend of Nanda Devi The history of Nanda Raj Jat is associated with king Jasdhaval of Kannauj. It is believed that the wife of king Vallabha was the daughter of the ruler of Chandour (Garhwal). Once the Queen was cursed by Nanda Devi and consequently her kingdom became a victim of droughts, famines and other natural calamities. The royal priest, on assessing the reason, advised the king to participate in the Nanda Raj Jat, to get rid of the curse. So king Jasahaval, Queen Vallabha, Prince Jadeel and Princess Jadeela, along with a troupe of dancing girls and musicians, arrived in Garhwal and joined the Jat at village Bann. They did not obey the prohibitions; to be observed during the Yatra, defying the norms, the king held dancing sessions. Since then the place is known as Patar Nachonia (the spot where the festivities were organised). The entourage had to make a night halt at Roopkund, where the Queen delivered in a cave. The irreverence earned the Devi’s wrath, causing heavy snowfall and perishing the entire troupe. It is believed that some people had slipped into Lake Roopkund and the dancing girls had turned into rocks. This accident is believed to have occurred around 1150 A.D. Jasdhaval is believed to be an ancestor of the Prince of Kansua and thus originated the tradition of paying homepage to king Jasdhaval at this point during the Nanda Jat.
The Popularity Parvati (Shail Putri), the daughter of hills and the concord of Lord Shiva, is known as Nanda in Garhwal & Kumaon areas. The popularity of the Goddess is understandable, as the highest peak of the district has been identified with the name of the deity, also several Nanda temples are situated at all the prominent places in Garhwal and Kumaon like Nauti, Chandpur, Kurur, Devrada, Kulsari, nandkesri, lohajang, Shila Samundra, Nandakot Vaidini, Srinagar, Sink, Devikhet, Nandprayag, Gopeshwar, Helang, Lata Niti and Badrinath. Similarly the kumaon region include Nanda Devi temples located at Nainital, Almora, Baijnath, Shuwbhgash, Munsiyari, Doonagiri, Jageshwar, Bageshwar and Ranikhet.
Farewell to the Devi
The festivities come to a standstill, when the time comes for the Devi to leave for her sauras (husbands home). Special prayers and rituals are performed and the offerings are loaded on the four- horned Ram just like the things given to a daughter in her marriage are sent. The deity is decorated like a bride, ready to leave for her husband’s home. The scene becomes pathetic when the devotees, in tears, bid farewell to the Devi, as if they are bidding farewell to their own daughter.
Leaving the image of the Goddess there, the four horned ram proceeds towards Kailash (Trishuli peak) the abode of Lord Shiva on its own. The Trishuli peak is the highest peak of the Nanda Parbat, the highest mountain range in Chamoli district. The Parbat is revered by the people, the women folk believe that the mist around the Nanda Kot peak is the smoke coming out of the kitchen of Goddess Nanda. They get sentimental while they sing songs associated with their revered Goddess, whom they regard as a pampered daughter of this own.
Nanda Devi Raj Jat is the most wonderful pilgrimage in the High Himalayan peaks. It combines obscure faith, mysteries and thrills with a flood of devotees. Like the Khumbh it is organized every 12 years. This 280 kilometer pilgrimage by foot begins at the village Nauti, of Chamoli district in Uttarakhand. There are 19 halting places. The journey absorbs the rainbow like beauty of traditions of the Himalayan society. A deep feeling of faith and reverence for Nanda Devi in Himalayan folk lore reflects the respect held for women in Uttarakhand. They observe the general life, manners and customs, as well as the folk art and culture of this region. Whatever their goal may be, people of all castes, religions and creeds become a part of this journey. After the welcome and hospitality at the border village of Van, the pilgrims move towards the Himalayan peaks. The changing colours on Bedini Bugyal makes people feel as if they are in Heaven.