162 Abode of Gods
arid sparkling and at other times gathering its water in dark steep
pools under lofty overhanging rocks. Taluqwa (6700 ft.) is
twenty kms. from here, and next stop Osla to Hari Ki Doon is
(11700ft.) 11 kms. The entire trek is filled with the scent of
sweet wild flowers which mingled with the odour of deodar
makes a pungeant effect over the nostrils and when wearied
traveller ultimately lands at Hari Ki Doon, he is greeted with
magnificent display of flowers from the nature's garden and
herbs as described in the pages of Dhanwantari Nighantu and
Charak Samhita.
This place is also rich in wild animals. In the alpine pastures,
musk deer is found. This three feet long and two feet high
animal has varying shades of colour which it changes with the
season. The male musk deer has a musk pod situated between
the shin of the body and the abdominal viscera. The produc-
tion of musk in this gland is due to the secretion as a shin pot in
animal producing secretion has a musky odour. In Dhanwantari
Nighantu, musk has been called as Kasturi, Mriga Nabhi, Mriga
Meda and Mukhaja. It is also called Yojana-Gandhi, contain-
ing about three tolas of the size of a lemon in a full grown
animal. It is believed to be the content of a umbilical knot.
The people
Hari Ki Doon is situated in Panchgain-Fatehparvat area of
Garhwal. It has been thus described by Sri Paripoornanand
Pinuli: "The configuration of Panchgain-Fatehparvat hemmed
by the sinuous Tons and other rivulets rather deprive them of
irrigation and still ingeniously do they husband their terraced
fields and rear sheep, the mainstay of their life.'* The inhabi-
tants of this valley, though having identical values in work, deed
and thought with their counterparts in Jaunsar and Rawanin,
claim descent from the Kauravas. In fact, they are the only
people who worship Duryodhana and still there are a number
of temples dedicated to him and year after year his one-legged
idol is taken out in procession in a palanquin from village to
village where the arrival of the God is heralded with merry
making and fanfare. Another God who is assiduously wor-
shipped is Pakhu or sheep God who inspires them to steal sheeps
and ffoats from nearby herds and feast on them.