Uttarakhand to develop Kartik Swamy temple to attract devotees from South India - Hindustan Times
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Uttarakhand to develop Kartik Swamy temple to attract devotees from South India

Oct 16, 2022 06:11 PM IST

The 200-year-old Kartik Swamy temple is located around 40 km from Rudraprayag and involves a 3 km trek from Kanakchauri village

The Uttarakhand tourism department is set to develop the 200-year-old Kartik Swamy temple located in Rudraprayag to attract devotees and tourists from South India, tourism minister Satpal Maharaj said on Sunday.

It is here Lord Kartikeya, angry at his parents Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati for favouring their other son Lord Ganesha, when both were asked to circumnavigate the earth, offered his bones as the testimony of his devotion. (Sourced)
It is here Lord Kartikeya, angry at his parents Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati for favouring their other son Lord Ganesha, when both were asked to circumnavigate the earth, offered his bones as the testimony of his devotion. (Sourced)

The Kartik Swamy temple is the only temple in Uttarakhand dedicated to Lord Kartikeya, elder son of Lord Shiva, revered as Skand or Murugun in South India. The temple is located around 40 km from Rudraprayag and involves a 3 km trek from Kanakchauri village in the district.

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“Kartik Swamy temple has immense religious significance according to the Hindu mythology as it is here Lord Kartikeya, angry at his parents Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati for favouring their other son Lord Ganesha, when both were asked to circumnavigate the earth, offered his bones as the testimony of his devotion,” said the minister.

“We are focusing on attracting tourists from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka by developing this temple”, he added.

Sameer Shukla, founder of Soham Himalayan Centre Mussoorie said, “Kartik Swamy temple is the lone temple dedicated to Kartikeya and has stayed out of the state tourism map for a long. So, it is high time that a massive promotion campaign is done to attract tourists from south India in a big way to this shrine in the Himalayas.”

He said the department should also develop infrastructure and facilities that cater to south Indian devotees, with a dedicated south Indian menu and a training centre for the local communities who are able to serve local as well as south Indian delicacies to the devotees.

CM Naithani, a local resident from Chandrapuri in Rudraprayag said, “The tourism department should create more homestays by forming a cluster of villages to cater to the increased flow of devotees visiting the temple and include it in the Char Dham yatra package as the three-kilometre trek will also help the devotees in acclimatising with the terrain before taking to up the arduous Kedarnath trek, thus reducing the rate of deaths as witnessed during Char Dham yatra this year, which has crossed 300”.

Poonam Chand, additional director, tourism department, said, “Following Char Dham yatra, our focus now is on promoting Kartik Swamy temple and other circuits as directed by the tourism minister and we are working on attracting devotees from South India through various promotional campaigns this winter and once the footfall increases, the infrastructure including homestays will also be upgraded accordingly.”

The tourism department is also planning to deploy tourist police to ensure the safety and convenience of the tourists and they will also be assigned the task to inspect illegal resorts and camps running in the state along with ensuring that local vendors do not extort tourists

So far, over 42 lakh pilgrims have visited Char Dham shrines including the Gaumukh trek and over 266 deaths have been registered during the pilgrimage this year.

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