A glimpse of the History of Somnath Temple

Introduction

Surrounded by thick deciduous forests of Uttarakhand region, the Surkanda Devi temple is quite a holy place of worship for the Hindus. It was built in the name of Indian Goddess of Power, Durga and is one of the many Shaktipeeths situated in India. This temple is built in the Tehri district of Garhwal region in Uttarakhand at an altitude of 9500 ft (about 2757 meters) above sea level close to the hill stations like Dhanaulti and Chamba. There are many more holy places and famous temples you can find during your India Tours to enjoy a lot.

History

As per the Hindu Mythology and various other stories, Goddess Durga was believed to be reincarnated in the form of Sati as a daughter to Daksh Prajapati, who was the son of Lord Bramha, and Prasuti. Sati wanted to marry Lord Shiva for which she worshipped him for a lot of years. Daksh, her father did not approved Shiva and never wanted to give away her daughter to Shiva in marriage. He called Shiva, a foul, wandering ascetic yogi. Once upon a time, after Shiva got married to Goddess Sati, Daksh planned a holy Yagnya for which he invited all the gods and goddesses except for his daughter Goddess Sati and his son-in-law Lord Shiva. When Goddess Sati came to know that her father had organized a yagnya she asked Lord Shiva about it and insisted on visiting the yagnya that was organized by her father. Lord Shiva, on her insistence allowed her to visit her father. But, when Sati reached at her father’s place, her father and the remaining family not just insulted Sati but also did the same for her husband Lord Shiva. Sati could not bear the insult of her husband and jumped in to the fire of holy Yagnya and died. When Lord Shiva came to know about her death through his disciples he became very angry and cut off the head of Daksh Prajapati and took the dead body of Sati with him to the Kailash. After observing the anger of Lord Shiva for Sati’s death, Lord Vishnu decided to part away the dead body of Sati from Shiva and thus cut her body part by part with the help of Sudarshan Chakra. The various body parts of Sati fell on earth and the places where they fell are, these days, well recognized as the Shaktipeeths. The temple of Surkanda Devi is one among many such temples. Actually Surkanda Devi temple is the very place where the head of Goddess Sati fell.

Location

The temple of Surkanda Devi is located at around 8 kilometers from Dhanaulti, a hill station in Tehri District of Uttarakhand and 22 kilometers from Chamba at an altitude of 9500ft or 2757 meters on the way from Chamba to Mussoorie. One can reach there by a trek of 2.5 kilometers from Kaddukhal, a small market on the road side.

Famous for

The Surkanda Devi temple is quite popular for an annual ten day long festival of Ganga Dussehra organized every year during the months of May and June. It is one amongst the major attraction of this place for thousands of people and devotees coming here.

Reaching there

The holy temple can be, most effortlessly, reached from the southwest region of Uttarakhand via Dehradun. However it is a usual trip which generally takes a whole day for tourists and devotees visiting the hill stations Mussoorie and Landour. It is situated on a hill and one is able to reach there after an almost vertical trek of 2.5 km from village Kaddukhal, on the Dhanaulti Chamba road.

Places of interest around the temple

There are a range of places of tourist interests around the temple which tourists can visit during their visit to the temple. Chief among them are Barehipani and Joranda Falls, Dashavtar Temple,Deogarh Fort, Matatila Dam and Iain temples. If your wish is to visit many more Places, then you should Golden Triangle Tours in which you can visit most renowned place of India Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur (Rajasthan).

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