Uttarakhand flood fury: Last traces of centuries-old Panch Kedar lost below debris; homes destroyed, orchards swept away

Time of India

3 days ago

DEHRADUN: The Kheer Gad river surged through without warning, tearing through Dharali - a village that holds its history in the soil. The flash flood halved the settlement, destroying homes and orchards, and burying what little remained of its oldest monument: the Kalp Kedar temple, a shrine dedicated to Shiva and, as local lore has it, built by the Pandavas during their exile.
Only the temple's dome - long visible above ground since a glacial shift in the early 20th century submerged the rest - had endured. Carved with the face of Kalabhairava, it remained a visible fragment of something larger and unseen. Now, that too is gone, covered by fresh silt, boulders and broken timber. The Shivling has stayed hidden beneath earth and water for generations.
In the 1980s, residents had tried to excavate the structure, but the Shivling never emerged - as though resisting visibility.
That mirrored the lore: Shiva, unwilling to grant the Pandavas absolution, is said to have scattered himself across the Himalayas, each fragment becoming a site of worship. Kalp Kedar, believed by locals to be a prototype of Kedarnath, was one of those pieces - half-visible, always revered.
"This wasn't just a flood. It took the heart of the village," said Manoj Rana, former pradhan, surveying the damage.
Set at an altitude of 650 metres (2,100 feet) above sea level, it was once a key halt on the Indo-Tibetan trade route.
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The Bhotia traders moved wool and salt through these hills, and many settled in nearby Bagori and Harsil, blending Buddhist and Hindu traditions. While Dharali does not lie on the formal Panch Kedar route, villagers consider Kalp Kedar part of that sacred constellation - not geographically, but spiritually.
Its submerged form, they believe, was no accident but part of the same divine refusal that defines the myth: a god withdrawing from view, leaving only fragments behind.
Brijesh Sati, general secretary of the Char Dham Teerth Purohit Mahapanchayat, said, "The temple was near the bridge. Kalp Kedar had immense importance for the region. It was restored by Adi Shankracharya and worshipped as one of the oldest shrines to Shiva."
In the village's modern history came the British deserter Frederick Wilson, known locally as Pahadi Wilson, who made Harsil his home in the mid-19th century.
He introduced apple saplings and red rajma to the region - both of which reshaped Dharali's economy. Today, the village exports apples across northern India. The trees remain, but the terraces along the river were swept away this week. Several orchards were flattened.
Footbridges leading to fields were carried off downstream. Entire homes - including those belonging to long-settled families - were torn in half.
Just 6km from Harsil, Dharali also serves as a base for Himalayan treks, including the Gaumukh-Tapovan and Lama Top routes. It lies close to Gartang Gali, a century-old wooden bridge carved into the rock face that was once used by Indo-Tibetan traders. But Dharali has never been a destination in itself. It has existed between paths - passed through, not always visited, known more to pilgrims and orchardists than to tourists.