A venture into the Himalayas is more than a mere journey: it is a "yatra". A pilgrimage does not hold more importance than it does in Garhwal and Kumaon, once known as "Uttarakhand" - the 'northern territories' - in the pre Vedic era. This is the domain of the ascetic Lord Shiva, the destroyer and re-creator; it is land charged with "Shakti", the power and energy of the goddess Parvati, consort of Shiva and the daughter of Himavat, Lord of the Mountains. Together, Garhwal and Kumaon form a sizable wedge in the Central Himalayas, joining India and Nepal.

Garhwal today remains a land of myth and legend, where every stone tells a story. The earliest historical references to the region are found in the Vedas, paeans to the purity of the Himalayas. Specific mention of the mountains exists in the Mahabharata, dated around 1000 BC. This is when the protagonists of the epic, the Pandavas, are said to have ended their life on earth by ascending the slopes of peak in western Garhwal called Swargarohini - literally, the Ascent to Heaven'. The epic also mentions this region being the home of the Kirata, Puolinda and Tangara tribes.

Whoever was in power, added to the tradition of meditation, and worshiped in these unspoiled mountain enclaves. Today, if a resident is asked about the history of the region, the answer is likely to be shaped more by myth than by chronicle. Even now, the local villages associate various towns and habitats with affairs of state and politics. This is largely due to the efforts of the saint, Adi Shankaracharya, a Namboodri Brahmin from Malabar in South India.

Adi Shankarachaya was entirely responsible for the revival of Hinduism in the early ninth century. At the time that he set out on his reformist mission, Uttarakhand was a medley of mystic cults, naga worship, tantric rites and faith. He established a series of "dhams" and "maths" - seats of Hindu religion - at elevated sites in the midst of the Himalayas.

At Jyotirmath, now Joshimath, he set up an institution of Hindu learning and instruction, a tradition that remains today. At Badrinath, he installed the image of Lord Vishnu near the source of the Alaknanda River, and at Kedarnath he chose to enshrine Lord Shiva himself. He died in 820 A.D. at Kedarnath and his samadhi (memorial) lures thousands of travelers till today.