36 Abode of Gods
country. Probably this alone led our chroniclers to describe
these places as the holy home of the Gods and Goddesses
"The existence of the great shrines of Badri and Kedar, cont-
aining forms of Shiva and Vishnu, still hold a foremost posi-
tion in the beliefs of the great majority of Hindus—to many
the fruititioas of all early desires is the growing glory of a
visit to the sacred Tirthas by which the sins of the former
birth are cleansed and exception from metamorphosis is obtai-
ned. Here are laid many of the scenes in the life of the dei-
ties, here Rama propitiated Mahadeva . . . here Arjuna and
Krishna meditated on the Supreme Being and the Pandavas-
ended their earthly pilgrimage. Every rock and rivulet is
dedicated to some deity or saint and has an appropriate leg-
end. Nature in her wildest and most rugged form bears wit-
ness to the belief that here is the home of Gods, and when
journeying to the mountains, which form the approach to
the principal shrines, the traveller from the plains is told to
proceed in respectful silence lest the Gods should be angered.
He wearily feels the presence,and should the forbidden sound
and music arise and the God in wrath hurls down avalanches
on the offenders, then the awe-stricken pilgrim believes that
he has seen God, terrible and swift to punish and seeks by
renewed austerities to overt his displeasure. ... In fact what
Palestine is to the Christian, the home of this great gods, the
great way to the final liberation".1
Uttarakhand continues to be the home of Gods and will1
certainly remain so in future.
The land
The three hill districts of Pithoragarh, Chamoli and Uttar-
kashi have been given the ascription of Uttarakhand in the-
government records and as per local geographical denomina-
tions, the districts of Dehradun, Tehri-Garhwal, Pauri-Garh-
wal, Ghamoli and Uttarkashi are known as Garhwal; that is*
how we separate Uttarakhand from Kumaon and Garhwal and1
always confuse it with mere three border districts of Uttar-
kashi, Chamoli and Pithbragarh. In fact, the entire Kumaoi*
1. Himalayan Districts; F.T. AthiiiSon.