‘The subterranean world of reverence and worship – Patal Bhuvneshwar’ is a blow-by-blow account of my brush with this mysterious cave shrine located in Pithoragarh District. You can find a detailed account of Patal Bhuvneshwar HERE.
The subterranean world of reverence and worship – Patal Bhuvneshwar
No cameras
‘Deposit your cameras and mobile phones at the counter!’ – a tough-looking guy in the ticket window made this seemingly-harmless announcement. We had just taken off our shoes to get inside the mysterious underground world of Patal Bhuvneshwar cave. Something deep within me shattered. I was not interested in subjecting myself to the inconvenience of slithering down a steeply descending 30-metre-long narrow tunnel without my camera. More so as the Oxygen levels were going to be especially low in the underground cave during monsoons.
Uttarakhand Tourism had
Cameras and ASI order
Armed with the knowledge of this recent ASI order, I proceeded to persuade the ticket issuer that we be allowed to take cameras inside. While he would not be persuaded, he suggested we talk to the ASI official posted at the shrine.
Ramesh Ji, a Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam official, was leading our tour. He spoke to the ASI official. The ASI official denied receiving any order allowing photography. But he connected Ramesh Ji with his State HQ. Soon after, we received the relevant order that finally got us the permission to carry our cameras in. Long live WhatsApp!
Camera under threat
Our guide, a young local lad, led us down a treacherously narrow passage. He repeatedly cautioned us to latch on to the riveted chains to avoid slipping. At my age, gravity becomes larger than life. You become acutely aware of how it can make you tumble down. So, as I did my best to cling to those chains while gingerly stepping on non-existent footholds, my camera banged around the rocks. Seeing me worried about equipment damage, our kind-hearted guide offered to lug the camera during our descent. With thanks writ large on my face, I handed my camera over!
After what seemed like eternity, I finally reached the bottom of that rocky burrow. Short of breath, I settled down on a boulder to wait for our group. Secretly, I was happy and thankful to have made it thus far. Little did I know my happiness was to be short lived!
One slip and you break your camera… and a few bones
As our tour of Patal Bhuvneshwar progressed, our guide cautioned us of a slippery floor. It was a cave after all. The floor beneath was nothing but unpredictably undulating rocks that had become smooth as glass over the centuries – what with millions of feet having walked that surface. Furthermore, this already-hazardous rocky deck had monsoon trickle of water!
Timidly and squeamishly, we began our slow progress into the cave. Every few steps, I would be leaning on our guide’s shoulder while he would point towards some wonder or the other. As one delicate step followed another, the mysteries of the cave began to unravel.
Lights. Camera. Action.
We
Skanda Purana has a reference to Patal Bhuvneshwar. Legend has it this cave was the hiding place of King Nala after he was defeated by his wife Damayanti in a game of Chaupad. Inside the cave, there are four entrances – RanDwar (Door of War), PaapDwar (Door of Sin), DharamDwar (Door of Faith, Worship, and Righteousness), and MokshaDwar (Door of Liberation from Rebirth).
Want to read about another instance when my camera was under threat? Head over to Hola Mohalla at Anandpur Sahib – Watch out for your camera.
It is said that PaapDwar was closed after the death of Ravana (the Lankan King who abducted Sita – Lord Rama’s wife – in the Indian Epic ‘Ramayana’). RanDwar was closed after the war of ‘Mahabharata’.
So, we passed through DharamDwar and entered MokshaDwar. Some of the other manifestations we saw were of Kala Bhairav with his mouth open and tongue protruding, Lord Shiva riding a lion, a swan with its head turned, and a thousand feet of Airawat – the mythical elephant!
Want to see more of Uttarakhand? Watch the video below!
After performing a small ‘Puja’ at the GarbhGriha (Sanctum Santorum) Shivalinga, we made our way back to the cavernous hallway (!) we had entered through. And a group photograph later, it was time to exit!
Camera leads the way
My camera was again dangling around our guide’s neck as he proceeded to lead us out one guarded step at a time and I followed him. Climbing over unevenly-formed steps, some of them over half a
Soon, we were our usual chatty self again. Upon exchanging notes we
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