Hi....one more exciting trip into the interiors of himalayas.....we were three of us.....myself, rounak and Ajay. we decided to go to shiv khori from jammu city on single bike. it is around 110km from the city. we left from our houses around six in the morning.....We started off from subash nagar and soon we were on akhnoor road heading towards the destination. intially the climate was good, so we were riding smoothly ( though we had to wait a little at the akhnoor bridge , it being a military area) for some time. the view of Chinab river from the bridge was awesome. its roaring and gushing water was simply a breathtaking scene. On the way a TATA sumo vehicle seemed to be in a little naughty mood. he was kind of racing with us. for a while, he used to be ahead of us and the suddenly we would increase our speed and overtake him. this game was going on till weather turned ugly and it started raining. such a heavy down pour it was. Rounak could no longer drive in that torrential rain, so we decided to take a halt under a big tree and wait for the sky to get cleared a little....
While waiting, that SUMO guy crossed us and gave a look which was lot disgusting, as he was ahead of us now .After some time rain slowed a little so we thought to start off again. so back on the bike we were racing on the road going towards sunderbani and thus to shiv khori. actually the same road goes to rajouri and poonch also. anyways, the rain increased its speed so did we , without stopping further, at any point. the road was good over all but at few places some of the road tracts were damaged due to land slides. this event is common in high hilly regions. we reached near to one of these tracts and rounak slowed his bike. the road was very poor and it was raining. on top of that, there was some special kind of clay laid down on the road which was making driving all the more difficult because rain water had made everything very slippery. anyhow we are slowly moving forward and at one turn our speed was just around 15kmph. after crossing the turn and moving with even more less speed we were crossing the most difficult part of that stretch. but as luck would have it,due to that slippery clay, rounak lost his balance and the bike slipped a little and then fell down ,but got dragged for a while before settling fully. now the most critical part is that the road being core mountainous, one side of it was a deep gorge. when our bike slipped , it got dragged towards this side of that road and just stopped at the end. i mean the scene was like, we three are on the ground with the bike and we could see down and it was an infinitely deep gorge in front of us..i mean we being on the edge of it. we were simply shocked for a while.but then we got up and accessed the whole situation. one good thing that clay did was that, we didn't get hurt much as it served a cushion. after assuring that bike didn't suffer any damage, we decided to move again but with a changed plan. me and ajay asked rounak to ride the bike alone till that problematic tract finishes....and we both thought to just walk off that seven kilometer stretch.....so everyone of us started moving....our clothes had become dirty...so we were searching for a water outlet also..like a hand pump...while walking we spotted a truck come from the back side....since it was raining and it was still a long way to go to finish that stretch, we thought of asking for a lift...luckily he stopped and we got in..sat next to driver's seat only....he was very much surprised to see both of us in that filthy condition...anyways....in a little while, we finished that stretch and stepped down to join rounak who was coming on bike....then we moved a little and soon we found a hanp pump also..we stopped there and washed our clothes a little , atleast to make them wearable.....then we drove non stop and didn't stop anywhere except for asking route at few of the places....
The temple is deep into the mountains and the final stretch of the road which reaches there is all a downward slope as if it is an entrance to a small valley....
finally we reached ....the temple was not crowded....we had to walk roughly 4km to reach to the entrance of the cave....the cave is really magnificent in nature....as we were walking through it , the pathway was shrinking more and more....we were marching ahead through those cracks and crevices till we suddenly landed ourselves in a big room kind of a thing...it was really astonishing to see such a big platform inside a mountain....a local guide was there....he accompanied us and started telling us about the mythology behind the whole caves....the whole space is filled with a naturally formed representation of one or the other god....starting with the presiding deity of the cave, lord shiva ...there was a shiv lingam...and guide told us that....it is not an ordinary shiv lingam..but it is lord shiva himself sitting there and meditating from time immemorial.......what he implied was that...it was lord shiv sitting him self there and not some indirect reference of it.....apart from that.....there were other gods also in the cave ...right from kali,to other devis and lord vishnu him self...also, there was a natural carving on the rock which depicted lord shiv lying down with goddess kali having her foot on his chest....the most amazing aprt was that.....it was all natural formed....no human being had made it......not only this.....while looking towards the ceiling...we noticed a big circular cut in the rock all around...as we inquired we came to know that....it was the imprint of the sudarshan chakra of lord vhishnu.....
also....there was an opening kind of a thing just above the main shiv lingam....and continuously...water used to drop from that in the form of drpolets right on top of the lingam....though there was no sign of water around on the cave.....one more interesting thing which we came to know was that....on the day of shiv ratri......from that same place ....milk drops emanate and fall on the shiv lingam....
While waiting, that SUMO guy crossed us and gave a look which was lot disgusting, as he was ahead of us now .After some time rain slowed a little so we thought to start off again. so back on the bike we were racing on the road going towards sunderbani and thus to shiv khori. actually the same road goes to rajouri and poonch also. anyways, the rain increased its speed so did we , without stopping further, at any point. the road was good over all but at few places some of the road tracts were damaged due to land slides. this event is common in high hilly regions. we reached near to one of these tracts and rounak slowed his bike. the road was very poor and it was raining. on top of that, there was some special kind of clay laid down on the road which was making driving all the more difficult because rain water had made everything very slippery. anyhow we are slowly moving forward and at one turn our speed was just around 15kmph. after crossing the turn and moving with even more less speed we were crossing the most difficult part of that stretch. but as luck would have it,due to that slippery clay, rounak lost his balance and the bike slipped a little and then fell down ,but got dragged for a while before settling fully. now the most critical part is that the road being core mountainous, one side of it was a deep gorge. when our bike slipped , it got dragged towards this side of that road and just stopped at the end. i mean the scene was like, we three are on the ground with the bike and we could see down and it was an infinitely deep gorge in front of us..i mean we being on the edge of it. we were simply shocked for a while.but then we got up and accessed the whole situation. one good thing that clay did was that, we didn't get hurt much as it served a cushion. after assuring that bike didn't suffer any damage, we decided to move again but with a changed plan. me and ajay asked rounak to ride the bike alone till that problematic tract finishes....and we both thought to just walk off that seven kilometer stretch.....so everyone of us started moving....our clothes had become dirty...so we were searching for a water outlet also..like a hand pump...while walking we spotted a truck come from the back side....since it was raining and it was still a long way to go to finish that stretch, we thought of asking for a lift...luckily he stopped and we got in..sat next to driver's seat only....he was very much surprised to see both of us in that filthy condition...anyways....in a little while, we finished that stretch and stepped down to join rounak who was coming on bike....then we moved a little and soon we found a hanp pump also..we stopped there and washed our clothes a little , atleast to make them wearable.....then we drove non stop and didn't stop anywhere except for asking route at few of the places....
The temple is deep into the mountains and the final stretch of the road which reaches there is all a downward slope as if it is an entrance to a small valley....
finally we reached ....the temple was not crowded....we had to walk roughly 4km to reach to the entrance of the cave....the cave is really magnificent in nature....as we were walking through it , the pathway was shrinking more and more....we were marching ahead through those cracks and crevices till we suddenly landed ourselves in a big room kind of a thing...it was really astonishing to see such a big platform inside a mountain....a local guide was there....he accompanied us and started telling us about the mythology behind the whole caves....the whole space is filled with a naturally formed representation of one or the other god....starting with the presiding deity of the cave, lord shiva ...there was a shiv lingam...and guide told us that....it is not an ordinary shiv lingam..but it is lord shiva himself sitting there and meditating from time immemorial.......what he implied was that...it was lord shiv sitting him self there and not some indirect reference of it.....apart from that.....there were other gods also in the cave ...right from kali,to other devis and lord vishnu him self...also, there was a natural carving on the rock which depicted lord shiv lying down with goddess kali having her foot on his chest....the most amazing aprt was that.....it was all natural formed....no human being had made it......not only this.....while looking towards the ceiling...we noticed a big circular cut in the rock all around...as we inquired we came to know that....it was the imprint of the sudarshan chakra of lord vhishnu.....
also....there was an opening kind of a thing just above the main shiv lingam....and continuously...water used to drop from that in the form of drpolets right on top of the lingam....though there was no sign of water around on the cave.....one more interesting thing which we came to know was that....on the day of shiv ratri......from that same place ....milk drops emanate and fall on the shiv lingam....
It was looking like we are in the abode of gods and are getting to meet them every now and then......finally....while coming back...we had a sight of doodhgang also.......the whole darshan was something which we could have never dreamt of......
return journey was very smooth......we were able to reach back by late evening...
shiv khori is an independent shrine now.....
their official web site is: http://www.shivkhori.org/
return journey was very smooth......we were able to reach back by late evening...
shiv khori is an independent shrine now.....
their official web site is: http://www.shivkhori.org/
