Kali Torso at Dhara Devi

This may sound like a story from a comic book, but it is not so – its reality that most people today like to ignore and push aside as superstition. The fury of the goddess is well known and any attempt to instigate her would lead to great destruction. Let us look at the events leading to the great devastation of Uttarakhand by flooding of Uttar Kashi.

The government has tried to build up dams to overcome the power shortage. This has been opposed by locals and some prominent politicians like Uma Bharti and B. C. Khanduri of the BJP since it would lead to the submergence of the Shrine, and efforts to construct dams have been delayed indefinitely. Previously, in 1882, an attempt to shift the shrine was immediately followed by havoc in Kedar Valley. There is some strange connection between these guardian goddess and the Kedarnath jyotirliñga.

The Joint Temples

These are not just any other Shakti temples, they are among the 108 Shakti Pitha mentioned in the Devi Bhagavat. Dhari Devi is a temple on the banks of the Alaknanda River in the Garhwal Region of Uttarakhand state, India. It houses the upper half of an idol of goddess Kali specifically called “Dhari Devī” that, according to local lore, changes in appearance during the day from a girl, to a woman, and then to an old lady. Perched atop a 20 metre high rock, the temple of Dhari Devi is situated on the banks of river Alaknada. One has to travel a distance of 19 kms. from Srinagar (Pauri Garhwal) on Srinagar-Badrinath highway upto Kaliya Saur, then down trek another half a kilometer towards Alaknanda river. According to a local legened, the temple was once washed off by floods, while floating the idol struck against a rock, the villagers heard the cries of the idol. On reaching the site they heard a divine voice instructing them to install the idol as it was, on the spot it was found. Since then the fierce looking idol remains where it was, known as Dhari Devi, under the open sky, and thousands of devotees on the way to Badrinath pay their obeisance to it. The temple of Dhari Devi in Srinagar hosts only the upper part of idol of Godess Dhari, the remaining lower part is believed to be in Kalimath in Rudraprayag district. It is believed that the idol of Dhari Devi shall not be put under roof. For the same reason, the idols in Dhari Devi Temple are put under open sky. Taking photographs of Dhari Devi idols is strictly prohibited. The village near the temple is name after godess Dhari and known as Dhari Village. A hanging bridge over Alaknanda river connects the Dhari Devi temple to Dhari Village.

Now, the lower half of the idol of Kali is located in Kālimaṭh Temple. These joint temples are exactly at NE-SW direction (see adjoining image) symbolising Kali as sleeping with her feet in NE direction and head in the SE direction.
UttarakhandThis causes the energy to flow in the NE direction, which in jyotiṣa, is the direction of Jupiter (Iśāna Śiva), the parameṣṭhi guru. The upper part of the devī with the head symbolises the calming of Kali by Śiva, the Guru. The lower part of Kali is not in the form of an idol and instead, is worshipped as the Śrī Yantra. In this manner we learn that the Śrī Yantra, as established by Ādi Śaṅkara at Kālimaṭh, is the yoni of Śaktī from which all creation proceeds.

The Kedarnath jyotirliñga is exactly North from Kālimaṭh (see adjoining image) symbolising the husband-wife or Śiva-Śaktī relationship. In this Kedarnath being to the north (Mercury direction for ahimsa) is constantly calming the devī who is in the south (Mars direction, anger, agitated and at war).

On June 15th, 2013, the idol of Dhara Devī was removed to be shifted to another location to facilitate the construction of the same dam, which locals were opposing ever since the conception of the project with the belief that the moving of the Dhara Devī would somehow agitate Kali. They were right in their belief as any movement would lead to a change in the angle of the Dhara Devī and Kālimaṭh, besides altering the distance. There are energies we human beings do not understand as yet and it is best to let these spiritual shrines where these energies are contain, be maintained.

With the shifting of Dhara Devī, the agitated Kali has been woken up, and she seeks the demon Raktabīja (seed of blood). As per mythology, Raktabīja took various bodies and she continued to destroy each one. Primarily this indicates unimaginable bloodshed and death. Exatly on the next day massive cloudburst and flash floods started in Uttarkhand and even today, when official (?) death figures are at 1000 (identified people/bodies), the unofficial figures is way beyond 5000 deaths and more are still following as the rains are returning.


Restore the idol of Dhara Devī (Kali torso) to its original shrine and start the prayers that calm her down. Shri Yantra sādhanā has to be maintained at Kālimaṭh and Bael leaf must be offered to Kedarnath. If this is done, then Kali will calm down and the agitation of nature will stop. If this is not done, then the agitation of Kali shall spread throughout India and this will prove to be one of the worst years in the history of modern India.



  1. God does not do a retributional revenge. Stop ridiculing indian mythology which has deeper and metaphoric. Goddess is kundalini shakti not a murti confined to temple. Kaali is kundalini when it is awaken and Raktbeeja are our sanchit karmas. No kaali physically killed a demon like Raktbeeja at Dhari devi. And by removing murtis no flood is caused.

  2. anilbhat1962

    Jai Shree Gurudev !

    First and foremost problem which I see is the translation of Devta as Gods. The “basic energy” also does not seem to be a good translation of Devta. We must appreciate that the laws that function at the higher plank scales does not seem to be the same at the subtlest levels of Natures working. The intelligence aspect of energy which makes it to perform action in the evolutionary direction is as important as the energy itself. Therefore, Devta is a very subtle subject.

    Our ancestors did the same mistake, I can guess it after reading this article. They shifted the Shiva Lingam from the original location to the temple of Sri Dhoomawati on the banks of famous Dal lake in Srinagar. This was, I think, start of the problem for whole of the community. Therefore, we must be very careful in adventuring into such aspects. Let me add here, we displaced the Shivlingam and we are today displaced, the whole community is displaced.

    I am from last five six months trying to learn fundamentals of Jyotish. The infinite variety of karamas in the past when collapse on its point value seem to give birth to the Birth chart. Infinity is, in a way, collapsing to the silence of Shiva. Everything in the past seems to be unified at the birth time. This is, I believe, the yoga (unity) aspect of charts. Then this point again expands into the infinite variety of karma, karmaphalla and pralabdha, the magnificence of Sri Vishnu . This unified point seems to expand into infinite variety again. Thus, the point (birth time) has both unified and diversified values inharent in it. This seems to me to be the seat of Santan Devta. Therefore, we can only destroy the whole scheme of predicting horoscope, if we displace even the minutest details. This seems to be the purport of this beautiful article by Sh. Sanjay Rath Ji.

  3. If we stop looking at it as gods and their wrath .. but as basic energy instead, it would make more sense. Every temple carries a charge and is supported by others. One gone disrupts the balance.
    And of course the pseudo secular government will do nothing about it. NGO?

  4. anyexplaination

    mankind messes with nature, nature messes with mankind – that is the karma and the karmaphala, as I see in all my limitations.
    Man – with all ‘technological advances’ cannot compete with Nature, nor fully understand It’s working, since Nature’s “limits” extend beyond that of ‘man’.
    An anticancer drug will damage ‘innocent’ cells too apart from killing cancer cells – so much for mankind to be such a good judge of who/what is right and who/what is wrong and dole out punishment accordingly – can this ‘man’ really be capable of ‘judging’ the ‘judgement’ of the powers that are above him?
    It pains me to see how people ‘pave way’ to ‘holy places’ (using modern tech, knowledge n stuff) – these place that wud at one time be visited by rare people who had to acclamatise (in more ways than just physical) their way up there – aren’t the people who tread these paths now contributing to imbalance of natural resources? Who has to bear with all the animal and human littering at places like Sri Amarnath? Should’nt then ‘god’ just destroy the technology gene (if there is any such thing) of humans? Nature would be much more ‘natural’ then. Or does God want all that flock to visit Him like this? Or does ‘God’ then have to suffer the consequence of making humans ‘intelligent’? Who knows.
    I also wonder about the consequences of destruction of the Rama-setu. Some ‘intelligent man’ asked ‘was Rama an engineer who could build a bridge’? Well, I wonder who engineered this planet suspended nowhere in space and could be hit anywhere anytime by a meteorite destroying it completely – so much for ‘human intelligence’ and ‘judgement of God’ that humans talk about – do we really understand That Power that is above us all?
    Do we humans ‘think’ for a minute about the ‘innocent mosquitoes’ and ‘innocent cockroaches’ etc. before killing them ruthlessly? – oh well some may say we are not gods…
    Then there is another perspective – if everything is a ‘manifestation of God’, then who is the destroyer and who is the destroyed? then why all the hullabaloo – it is perhaps for those who are not yet ‘One with God’.

  5. mondal_amit

    it is totally a misconception that, if u believe in this story or not, at Kedarnath God wanted to punish someone whether they were innocent or guilty. it is a question of unbalancing one equation.
    u may think it in this way. when america ruined two cities of Japan by atomic bomb so many innocent people were killed, and many people are still paying for that even after decades. so u should argue that why so called God did not protect those innocent people?? see, God is not a human being. He is the nature, the laws of Physics which governs the universe. he is the Param Brhma, for whom there is neither absolute good nor absolute bad. he judges everything by “Karma” or balancing or unbalancing the equation.

  6. Dvaitan,

    I can understand that you can’t believe that even God could punish the innocent in their fury. However, if you believe in the philosophy of karma, then even if an innocent is punished unduly by the God in this life, he/she is due to get a better life in their next life based on karma principle or even better he/she may not need to take birth again. While it may sound fancy I find no better place to die than at the holy feet of kali ma and siva.

    And, those so called culprits who are living in luxury, may in fact have good intentions to supply electricity and let many people worship the god there. It could be the villagers who are protesting to extract some money from the rich who wants the project. Who knows? Only the God knows and may be what happened is what they deserved.

    My take is that we are too ignorant to judge either the god or the villagers or the rich project sponsors. Let us do what we think is right with the little knowledge that we have. God will understand us even if we make mistakes while our intentions are correct.

    As for your comments on this modern age – I agree with comments from many others here. I believe with our modern technology we may in fact be moving away from nature (god) than understanding and living with them.

    My two cents, could be completely wrong.


    1. Sorry I stick to my stand while I respect your opinion/beliefs too. Eventually , we can wind up this discussion by saying that we can only speculate as why it happened. I am winding up this discussion Cheers.

  7. abhishekmishra1975

    Dvaitan you can apply the principle of thermodynamics if you want to understand things based on modern theories. There is source of energy and there has to be sink to balance the excess flow .If there is no sink then energy overflow happens and then chaos is there. If you read Guruji’s article carefully he has pointed out the direction energy correlation .
    My humble request please do not reject anything claiming modern theories. You can apply different principles to understand same thing provided you wish to seek real truth.As far as modern scientific wisdom is concern I am really skeptical as no body taught us very basics
    1. Why weekdays are named like Sun, Monday and how come we have equivalent like Ravivar and Somvar in our Indian system?
    2.Where does number originate from?
    There are many such questions which are basics and we were never taught these things but we were cramming all these facts since our childhood.
    For me Logic and Knowledge should be free from paradigms of narrow corridors of forced thinking .
    Its well known fact now that any dam is ecological disaster.If you are interested you can read papers published on dam constructed on Nile on how in span of 30 years soil become saline use of pesticide increase which resulted in destruction of local bird species as consuming food sprayed with b pesticide resulted inegg with weak shell. the soil became infertile leading to excessive use of fertilizers which in turn resulted in rise of kidney and liver diseases for humans.
    It is for us to discover logic arguments in our own way but we often loose the essence in maze of logic . The essence is GOD is not happy with all these things happening because of greed of human.

  8. Please , in this age of computers and high technology, one cannot believe in such stories. There ought to be a more rational explanation. Being a devoted soul, I find it impossible to accept the fact that innocent souls in thousands can die due to the “sins” committed by those people who had vested interests in constructing the dam.

    1. You are making making assumptions and are making *politically correct statements*. This is the problem with modern India – we are completely going away from ancient India. Are you assuming that those *vested interests* built those dams on their own? Who carried the bricks, the cement and the concrete?
      We must all make a promise to stay completely away from politics as that is corrupting the soul of India. All those people have participated in the construction of those dams and so many hotels that serve meat and alcohol in Haridwar and such high spiritual pilgrimages. Who will pay for the sins that have been accumulating for so many years?
      So many people have died – are we just going to sit back and blame the politicians and the builders? And then when the D-day comes, we will simply go out and choose one of them, and they will also continue to do what their predecessor did. Like so many Indians, we all feel so helpless, so weak and fragile.
      Also Dvaitan. what your concept of God? Santa Claus!! Just distribute goodies and never punish for sins.

      1. I beg to state that you are also making those same assumptions. I agree that politics is the dirtiest profession and the last refuge of scoundrels. But then A paying for the sins committed by B is illogical to put it euphemistically .If somebody should pay it i B and not A. If you had said that this was a man made calamity, i would have fully agreed with you, but by positing a “divine” force for this is nothing but daydreaming.

          1. We Indians dirty every single place of this great country and blame it on God when some tragedy happens. Have you ever seen the sea on the coast of Goa . There were thousands of plastic bags floating in those beautiful waters. Now, are you still going to blame God if India has an ecological disaster? I suppose people like you will do that -)

          2. Rajesh, you are getting personal. Let’s leave it here. You have misunderstood my article. I am the last one to ‘blame’ Kalika, the most beautiful, strong aspect of Mother Divine. I adore Her. I blame the ones who play with Her.

    2. Dvaitan, “this (computers and high technology) is one of the most primitive civilizations any universe has ever seen. Unsophisticated machines designed to make people mentally and physically dependent on them…Atlantis was much more advanced and they too were wiped out. Civilization at the time of Mahabharata was way too advanced, and really truly believed in many facts on which we laugh now.

      Some questions for you: Who are you devoted to? How do you know you are truly devoted? Please don’t mind my questions. There is a reason i am asking.
      Who are we to decide whether a soul committed a sin or not? And how do we know that those souls who have left their bodies have not got liberation? Or, how do we know they will not remain struck at astral level?

      Anyone who has lost their life or suffered any kind of loss in this devastation had the appropriate karmas that got burned. You are looking only at their current lives. What about their past lives? Group karmas?

  9. It seems to be a coincidence. Please remember that they are Gods and Gods will never take their frustration out on innocent souls. I am sorry to say that this story cannot be believed. in this modern age, we are looking for miracles which just do not exist

    1. mondal_amit

      hi, it may be a story or may be fact, u never know. how much of the whole universe is known to mankind? even in this modern age miracle exists. but u have to keep your mind open to accept the truth always. ok, i am raising a question to you. tell me how it is possible that around 5000 years ago the exact speed of light was known to the ancient indian people? please rethink. have a scientific view to the balance of nature.

  10. Thanks for sharing the insight that how just shifting the dhari devi idol is creating such a havoc (scientifically with the vastu principle)…This message was received to me some 4 months back…that some peoples with hidden interest want to shift the Dhari Devi idol..probably for dam purpose. When local villages opposed such plan…they paid them huge money….and slowly slowly most of them started favouring the shifting plan…only a handfull of local were opposed to it…but they could not do much to avert it….There was a strong signal…if such shifting happens….ie. removing the goddess form her home…will not affect her…she will go to her previous home, which is himalayas….but the people will suffer…and it is coming true!

  11. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), too, has been opposing the temple relocation. In July 2012, senior BJP leaders, including L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, requesting him not to relocate the temple, and demanding Uttarakhand be given 2,000 MW of free power instead. A petition was filed in the Uttarakhand High Court in Nainital, and later in the Supreme Court in 2011 and 2012 respectively by activist Anuj Joshi and retired IIM professor Bharat Jhunjhunwala

  12. SanjayPrabhakaran

    Om Gurave Namah
    Dear Guruji and Friends,
    More information can be gathered from the following site,
    Looks like some mischief is going on, The Idol was missing for some days (http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/dhari-devi-idol-goes-missing)
    and now it’s back. http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/dhari-devi-lost-and-found
    They are have built a superstructur over the existing place of the devi.
    Do you think she is happy with this?
    Warm Regards,
    Sanjay P

    1. Definitely not. Kalimath is the exact place where Kali manifested and destroyed Raktabija. Superstructure …we modern human beings are monkeying around too much

      1. abhishekmishra1975

        The sad part is those who are opposing it are affected most. The people who forced this are confined to their luxury accommodations.
        One question which bothers me always is that why fury of God is directed against innocent children and helpless people who are not party to such changes?

        1. Nature (Kali Mata) does not pick and choose as She is not angry against an individual. She is just angry and some are more unfortunate

          1. abhishekmishra1975


            If in anger Maa also cannot differentiate then it is tough for ordinary humans. This is very difficult to accept and I am more troubled as this invokes the reverence of God because of fear although Shri Tulsidas has said years ago bhay bin hot na priti.

          2. Please think “why does the Divine Mother have different forms and different moods?”. That should answer your question. For some, the rule would be – ‘Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom’, while for others, it is just pure love. The same mother is Annapurna when she feeds us and is Kali when she punishes us.

        2. mondal_amit

          hi abhishek,
          first try to understand that by the word “God” u should not refer to someone like a human being. here the word “God” actually means Nature and its Natural balance. in the universe of Nature u can never really mark something as absolutely good or absolutely bad. Take an example. lets talk about the anti-cancer drug. do u know these drugs are actually poisons. u will never give this drug to any normal human being. but in case of a cancer person it is really cost-effective which increase the life-expectancy of that person. same here. making a power plant is not bad, but what u should not do is that, u should never try to unbalance an equation. God (or Nature) never distinguish which is good or which is bad. if u unbalance an equation al of us have to pay for it.

  13. Very informative article! Thanks for writing it.

    I haven’t been watching and reading all the news re. the nature’s wrathful lesson in Uttrakhund, but i do hope media will highlight what you have shared in this article.

  14. jyotishstudent

    It is really very unfortunate that thousands of pilgrims have lost their lives in this incident. Change the face of the valley by constructing dams has to be stopped at least now to stop the fury of the devi. Hope the government listens to astrologer and other environmentalist and stop this unscrupulous activity and save from the fury of Ma Kali and rest of India

    God bless us all

    1. sriraman.vv

      i agree that man has assumed that his brain is ultimate and has become arrogant , we need to realise that what we don’t know is infinite and make ammends

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