Doidital - a peaceful looking lake amidst the forest surrounded by tall trees all round. Rare Himalayan trout fish swims in it with full elegance. The temple of Lord Ganesha adds a spiritual aspect to the site. Its a place sacred to the Hindus considering it as the birth place of Lord Ganesha, as per local legend.
The best part probably is that the trek till Dodital is one of the easier treks to do and it takes just couple of days to reach this site of pristine beauty and peace. This trek apart from boasting about the serene lake also has other fascinating elements of the Himalayas to talk about, including the green soft meadows, high remote villages, dwelling locals, faith in the religion and beliefs, deep forest of conifers and the snow cladded peaks of Banderpoonch. The trek to the top of Darwa Pass adds a little challenge to the trek and promises you a grand view of the mighty peaks of the region. From there, the Hanuman Ganga valley too is visible.
Darwa Pass is a high altitude Himalayan crossroad. You may climb down to the Hanuman Ganga and head left towards Yamunotri or walk right from the top towards Bamsaru Khal.
Starting from Sangam Chatti, which is a about an hour journey from Uttarkashi, this trek follows the Asi Ganga and takes you through the high Himalayan villages of Agoda and Bevra and winds up through the tall standing trees of Deodar and other conifers to the pristine lake of Dodi Tal.
Mythological Belief:
As per the legend, Dodital is the very place in Hindu mythology where the epic act of Lord Ganesha - a very important Hindu God with the body of a human and head of an Elephant, was born. It is believed that Parvati, Ganesha's mother wanted to take bath and had ordered Ganesha, her son to guard the site. Ganesha was the son of Lord Shiva (The Hindu God of Destruction ) and Parvati, but Lord Shiva was unknown of the fact that Ganesha was his son, as he was born in his absence. When Parvati was taking bath, Lord Shiva returned from his yatra and was obstructed bravely and aggressively by Ganesha. This made Lord Shiva very angry and he cut off Ganesha's head. When Parvati saw this, she broke down and got angry with Lord Shiva, and wanted to destroy the entire creation. She wanted Lord Shiva to undo his act, which had become a very difficult problem to solve. Lord Brahma (Hindu God Of Creation ) intervened to rescue the crisis and suggested Parvati to reconsider her decision. Parvati had 2 wishes to be fulfilled - Firstly Ganesha be brought back to life and secondly Ganesha to be worshiped before offering puja to any other God. On this, Lord Shiva came out with a solution that any animal's head could be used to bring back life to Ganesha and he advised his soldiers to bring the head of the first animal they sighted, facing North. Soon his helpers started to look out for that animal and they returned with an Elephant's head which was fixed on Ganesha's torso and he came back to life.
Checkout other versions of this trek below:
Dodital - Yamunotri Trek
Dayara Bugiyal - Dodital Trek