Darchen – Foot of Kailash Mountain
Darchen,Tarchan is a small village in Purang County of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Darchen is situated right in front of the sacred mountain, Mount Kailash. Its altitude is 4,575 metres (15,010 ft) and is the starting point of the Kailash Parikrama or Kailash Kora. It was formerly an important Sheep and Yak station for the nomads and their herds.
There many guesthouses and hotels on the two sides of the street. The guesthouses are very simple, cheap and thus popular among the pilgrims. we stayed in Himalayan guesthouse. This hotel is used by the piligrims who are on the way to Mt. Kailash / waiting for the pilgrims to come from the Kora/ Parikrama of Kailash. The hotel is in reasonably good condition. The busiest time at Darchen is during the Saga Dawa Festival when thousands of pilgrims would make a pilgrimage tour to the Mt. Kailash. There are many sweet tea houses in Darchen. Tibet people like Butter tea, an indispensable drink which also makes them warm.
Program coordinator has planned Ati Maha Rudra at the Foot Hill of Mt. Khailash ( Darchen) from Aug 12th to August 20th. Many ritwiks, priests from both India and other countries came to participate and performed this big event. Nearly 180 guests which included priests, ritwiks, volunteers and participants came from 15 countries. Program had Ati rudra maha yagnam and Chandi homam. There were also other poojas,bajans,lalita sahasra namam, suhasini pooja, vishnu sahasra namam, Gow pooja etc, done during these 5-6 days.
Pooja started on First day with Sahasra Lingarchana and ended with Siva Parvati Kalyana. During these five days, whole environment was filled with positive divine power, good ambiance, rudram chanting and soothing nadaswaram music every where.
