THE GLACIER KNOWS WHAT THE MAPS DON'T

The Gangotri glacier has retreated 22 kilometres in the last 200 years. The rate of retreat is accelerating. Scientists monitoring it describe the current rate with the specific careful language of people who are certain about the measurement and uncertain about what to do with the certainty. The glacier that Bhagirath performed thousands of years of tapasya to bring the celestial Ganga down to — the glacier whose melt becomes the Bhagirathi, which meets the Alaknanda at Devprayag and becomes the Ganga — is smaller than it was when my father was born and will be smaller when my children are my age and smaller still thereafter until the point at which the downstream implications of that reduction become impossible to absorb.

I am saying this plainly because the piece should say it plainly. The Gangotri glacier is sacred and it is retreating and both things are true simultaneously and the second does not diminish the first and the first does not excuse the ignoring of the second.

The shrine at Gangotri — white granite, built by the Gurkha general Amar Singh Thapa in the early 19th century, the presiding deity Ganga Devi in silver in the inner sanctum — sits on a rock above the Bhagirathi with the river fast and cold and audible below. The town is small by pilgrim town standards. The bazaar street runs from the bus stand to the temple, with tea stalls, ashrams, rudraksha shops, a post office. Everything operates for six months of the year. The shrine opens on Akshaya Tritiya and closes on Diwali. Between those dates the town is alive. In between, snow.

The Bhagirath Shila — the rock on which Bhagirath is said to have performed his tapasya — is in the temple compound, adjacent to the river, pointed out by priests, touched by pilgrims. A named rock at which a specific act of devotion happened, resulting in the Ganga's descent. Bhagirath performed tapasya for thousands of years to bring the Ganga from the heavens to the earth so that his ancestors' ashes could be liberated by the sacred water. Brahma released the river. Shiva received it in his matted hair to protect the earth from the force of the celestial river's fall. Bhagirath then led the river to the ocean and as he passed the ashes of his sixty thousand ancestors were liberated.

The story of how the Ganga came to earth is the founding narrative of the entire Char Dham circuit — not just Gangotri but all four shrines are chapters of this story, different elements of the same cosmological event. Yamunotri for the Yamuna, Gangotri for the Ganga, Kedarnath for Shiva who received the river, Badrinath for Vishnu in whose presence the descent became possible. The four shrines are four chapters. The circuit exists to walk you through them in the correct order.

The Gaumukh trek — 19 kilometres from Gangotri to the glacier snout — requires a Forest Department permit, maximum 150 per day, obtained at the check post in Gangotri before entering the national park. I had obtained mine the previous evening. The trail enters the Gangotri National Park and proceeds through alpine meadows past Chirbasa and Bhojbasa — where the GMVN hut provides overnight accommodation for those doing the glacier trek — and arrives at the glacier face, where the Bhagirathi emerges from under the ice in a cave of blue-grey glacial melt.

The glacier snout is not stable. Rocks fall from the moraine walls. The ice calves periodically. The river runs fast immediately below the glacier face. Standing at the point where the Ganga begins as cold rushing water from under the ice of a retreating glacier at 3,900 metres in the Garhwal Himalayas and becomes, eventually, the river that runs through Varanasi and Prayagraj and Patna and out to the Bay of Bengal at the Sundarbans — standing at that point produces a specific kind of attention that I find difficult to describe without sounding like I am making claims I am not equipped to make. The scale of what begins here. The weight of what depends on it continuing.

Tapovan is five kilometres beyond Gaumukh — a high alpine meadow at 4,463 metres below the Shivling peak where sadhus have been meditating through the Himalayan winter for as long as the tradition records. The conditions at Tapovan in winter are not conditions that most people would voluntarily seek. The sadhus who winter there are not most people. I did not go to Tapovan on this visit. The glacier trek and the Bhojbasa overnight were enough for what I was doing on this circuit, which was reporting, not seeking. The seeking I leave for a different kind of visit.

Harsil, 25 kilometres below Gangotri on the Bhagirathi, is the valley that the army has kept partially closed for decades and which has consequently remained less developed than comparable Himalayan valleys. Apple orchards, old deodar forests, the river at its clearest. I spent an afternoon there on the way down and I would go back to spend longer.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS — GANGOTRI

Where is Gangotri and how do I reach it?
Gangotri is in Uttarkashi district, Uttarakhand, at 3,100 metres. Rishikesh to Gangotri: approximately 255 kilometres, 9-10 hours via Uttarkashi. No railway beyond Rishikesh. Nearest airport: Jolly Grant Airport, Dehradun (approximately 280 km from Gangotri). GMOU buses run seasonally. Shared taxis from Uttarkashi to Gangotri: approximately 3-4 hours.

When is the Gangotri shrine open?
Opens on Akshaya Tritiya (April-May) and closes on Diwali (October-November). Best seasons: May-June (glacier trek conditions good) and September-October (clearest mountain views). Register at registrationandtouristcare.uk.gov.in before travel.

What are the Gangotri temple timings?
Opens 6:15 AM, closes 2 PM, reopens 3 PM, closes 9:30 PM. Main aartis: morning 6:15 AM, evening 7:30 PM. Entry free. Photography permitted in compound, not inside sanctum.

How do I do the Gaumukh trek from Gangotri?
19 kilometres one way to the glacier snout, gaining approximately 600 metres. Forest Department permit required: maximum 150 per day, available at the park check post in Gangotri. Overnight at Bhojbasa (14 km from Gangotri) using GMVN hut or Lal Baba Ashram. Trail time: 6-7 hours one way. Minimum 2 days (overnight at Bhojbasa, Gaumukh on day 2). Carry warm gear.

What is Gaumukh?
The glacier snout of the Gangotri glacier at approximately 3,900 metres, 19 kilometres from Gangotri town. The Bhagirathi river emerges from under the ice here. The glacier has retreated 22 kilometres in the last 200 years; the current face is significantly upstream of where it stood a century ago. Exercise caution near the glacier face — ice falls and fast current are genuine hazards.

What is the Gangotri National Park?
Covers 2,390 square kilometres of the upper Bhagirathi valley. Home to snow leopard, Himalayan brown bear, bharal, musk deer and western tragopan. The Gaumukh permit (150 per day) also grants access to the national park. Wildlife sightings not guaranteed but the habitat is intact.

What is Harsil near Gangotri?
Village 25 kilometres downstream (south) of Gangotri on the Bhagirathi. Exceptional natural beauty — apple orchards, deodar forests, river at its clearest — and partially restricted by the army for decades, preventing over-development. GMVN rest house and small guesthouses available.

Where should I stay at Gangotri?
GMVN tourist rest house: book at gmvnl.in; advance booking essential for May-June. Ashram accommodation (Gita Bhavan and others): minimal cost, apply in person. Private guesthouses on the bazaar street: ₹500-1,500. For Gaumukh overnight: GMVN hut at Bhojbasa (advance booking) or Lal Baba Ashram (walk-in, basic).

BHARAT DARSHAN — COMPLETE SERIES
12 Jyotirlingas · Char Dhams of Uttarakhand · Char Dhams of India

Curtain Raiser
I Have Been on That Road All My Life

The 12 Jyotirlingas
Somnath — Where the Shore Holds Its Ground
Mallikarjuna — Where the Forest Keeps the God
Mahakaleshwar — The City That Wakes at Four
Omkareshwar — The Island the River Shaped Into a Prayer
Kedarnath — Above the Tree Line, Below the Sky
Bhimashankar — The Sanctuary Nobody Told the Squirrels About
Kashi Vishwanath — The River Bends North Here for a Reason
Trimbakeshwar — Everything Begins at the Foot of This Hill
Vaidyanath — The Road to Deoghar
Nageshwar — Where the Land Runs Out of Arguments
Ramanathaswamy — The Wells Don't All Taste the Same
Grishneshwar — The Last One. Touch It.