The word Sworgadwari is formed by two words Sworga = Heaven, Dwar = Gate or Door, so the popular song came to my mind 'Knock knock.. Knocking at Heaven's Door'. Ofcouse, as you go to the temple with some expectation you must always be knocking at the doors of heaven where gods reside.
Sworgadwari located at Pyuthan district in Western Region of Nepal at the height of 6960 is an important pilgrimage site for the Hindus. Swargadwari is particularly famous for the Vedic Yagyan set up by Swami Shree Hansananda Giri Sworgadwari Mahaprabhu. Legend has it that the king of all deities; Indra had also performed a Yagyan in Satya Yuga at this place. It is a must see destination for Hindu pilgrims. There is the Swargadwari temple. Many believe that the Swargadwari Guru Maharaj was an incarnation of God. (http://www.sharmatravelsnepal.com/sworgadwari.html; Apr 9, 2014)
It was my privilege to visit Sworgadwari on April 9th Tuesday on the holy day of Ram Nawami. The purpose of our visit was to stud y the feasibility of cable car at the temple. Our team consisted of three consultants from Deloitte, India, Mr. Asutosh Bhandari, Mr. Kapil Chaudhary, Mrs. Pryatithi Chokraburty and me.
On the first day we set out from TIA, Kathmandu at the first Buddha flight to Bhairahawa. At Bhairahawa we met Mr. Bhawani who was ready with a cab to take us to Sworgawari. We had our lunch at Hotel Pawan and set out for Bhringi via Bhalubang. It took us nearly 5 hours drive to reach Bhringi where we stayed at Hotel Sworgadwari Darsan. The hotel was pleasant with free wifi, AC, attached bathroom. We looked for few possible sites for the cable car and discussed with the locals about the possibility there.
Second day was the ospecious day of Ram Navami where we set out for Sworgadwari from Bhringi at 7AM at the morning. The road was good except at some places where it could invite landslide during monsoon. The traffic was not as heavy as we assumed. On our way to temple we looked at the possible route of the cable car and made ourselves familiar with the previous studies done there. The last station was Dhamastali which was a small market place some 100m far from the base of the temple entrance gate. Here we interacted with the bus staffs and locals. Locals said that they had to pay some rent to the guti for using the land and the temple attracted a lot of pilgrims during peak season on July-Aug and Dec-Jan. After a brief interaction, we ascended from the main entrance . It took us nealy 30 minutes to reach the top of the hill. The trail looked under construction with stairs and railings being built. One could also take horse to go to the top which charged Rs 200. There was a few temples and a hindu school at the top. We interacted with the management of the temple who insisted us to stay for the special hawan for the day. We saw plenty of cows grazing at the temple premises. We had lunch at the canteen of the asharm which offered mediocre vegetarian lunch with curd. After lunch, we went to see the nearby cave. Interestingly, on the way to the cave we saw the students of the ashram playing cricket with their dhoti folded. It was a completely holy day with us staying for puja and hawan. We left the temple at about 2pm, stopped for some time at the hotel and then left for Butwal. We had our dinner at Nanglo Bakery Cafe, Butwal and stayed at Hotel Pradeep.
On the third day we visited 'Fulbari Park' at Butwal, had breakfast at Kasturi and had meetings at Butwal Municipality. We then interacted with 'Butwal Chamber of Commerce' and visited the site proposed for the exhibition center. We had lunch at a Thakali restaurant and returned back Kathmandu at the evening.
Unlike what many might imagine, Sworgadwari is accessible and the facilities are excellent. Indeed Sworgadwari is a must visit place.
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