- Bradrinath
- Dwarka
- Puri
- Rameswaram
The four Vaishnavite Pilgrammages.
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| Dwarakhadeesh Temple, Dwarka |
Chota Char Dham: in the Indian State of Uttarakhand (I used to live there!!) is the little Char Dham, consisting of:
- Yamunotri
- Gangotri
- Kedarnath
- Badrinath
I'm pretty sure I've actually been to all of these places, and it explains a whole whole lot about why I would see sooooooo many people coming to these random mountains and valleys to "Picnic" all the time. Explains a whole lot, actually.
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| Temple at the Yamunotri River |
Tradition is to start to visit the Chota Char Dham from Haridwar, Rishikesh, or Dehradun (Hey! I used to live in Dehradun!) And, you're supposed to go in the order that they are listed above. Let's explore Yamunotri, named after the goddess Yamuna.
Yamuna: The main tributary leading to the Ganges river, named after the goddess Yamuna. She is attrributed with her twin brother, Yama, the god of death. Bathing and drinking of her waters is regarded as removing of sins, and it is the second holiest river in India, first being the Ganges. Yamuna is also sometimes called Yami, being that she was the first woman. Yama and Yami are a pair of divine creator deities. Yama is the lord of Death, Yami is the lady of life.
Clicking on "The first woman" took me to a list of Protoplasts. Protoplasts is a word from ancient Greek, being the mythological progenator of mankind in creation stories, or of surviving humanity after a cataclysm. So, Yami and Yama must be part of the creation story in Hinduism. Interesting. However, when I scrolled down to search under the title of "Hinduism" on the page, Yami/Yama were not there! Instead, listed was Svayambhuva Manu and Shatarupa. So, the first woman in Hinduism actually appears to be credited to Shatarupa. Huh. The First Man? Manu.
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| Manu and the 7 Sages being protected during the time of the Great Flood/Great Deluge |
