PANDAV KHOLI — Attraction in Uttarakhand

Best Location I'm Dwarahat Range Pandukholi (Pandav Kholi) is named after the Pandava brothers of Mahabharata. The caves of Pandukholi are situated at a distance of 27 km from Dwarahat. Padukholi is a scenic place located in the lofty hills of Doonagiri in Almora District. If you are visiting Babaji's cave in Dunagiri, after reaching the cave you should definitively climb up a bit higher and visit Pandavkholi and the mandir (Hindu temple). Maybe even consider staying at the dharamshala (pilgrims shelter) for at least one night.

Staying at the dharamshala has been one of the most authentic Indian experiences that I've had so far.

What is Pandavkholi?

Pandavkholi (also Pandukholi or Pandav Kholi) is believed to be one of the places that the five mighty warriors, the Pandavas, used as a shelter during their 13 years of exile from their kingdom.

Five stones representing the five Pandavas Five stones representing the five Pandavas

This is a story told in the Indian epic the Mahabharata, which includes the most inspiring yoga philosophy book I've ever read, the Bhagavad Gita.

You can visit my article What is the Bhagavad Gita About to read a brief introduction to the story of the Pandavas and the contents of the Bhagavad Gita.

Visiting Pandavkholi

The next day after arriving at the Yogoda Satsanga Sakha Ashram (YSS) in Dwarahat, I took a shared taxi with some other devotees of Paramahansa Yogananda to visit Babaji's cave in Kukuchina, Dunagiri.

After sitting in meditation inside Babaji's cave for about an hour, my Indian companions asked me to join them all the way up to the top of the hill to visit Pandavkholi.

I had never heard about this place before but of course, I was excited to discover it.

Once we reached the top, besides the astonishing landscape, we found this beautiful and simple dharamshala and mandir (temple).

Yogananda devotees visiting Pandavkholi

Pandavkholi dharamshala entry

Pandavkholi dharamshala...

I've been to this place many occasions, primarily to meditate and find purpose in life. This place was not known until few young enthusiasts from Ranikhet trekked to it and did a great job by making it livable and loveable. The herbal kadha (tea kind of drink) that they serve is awesome and very healthy, stay and food is free however one should judiciously donate to this place so that they are able to continue serving you and other fellow travelers and seekers. Please avoid visiting here in rainy season as you'll find bees that bite you very bad and the sign and pain of their bitings remain in your body for a month and two. Also since this place is midst of jingle, so kindly take along some foods and vegetables in raw form such as flour, pulses, milk etc and they will cook it for you, you should also help them in cooking so that the burden of cooking food for many people don't go on ones shoulder. You'll find Bajradanti hetv which is great for your teeth andany more great herbs and medicinal plants in the surrounding. Great place, highly...

The trek starts from KukuchinaBus Stand. At first it is flat however after about 1km, it starts to become steeper. We measured the distance using a health band and it showed full distance at 4.5Km however the locals say it is 3km. The difficulty level is above moderate esp for Non regular trekkers. It took us two hours to climb atop. Once on top you can see a small bugiyal leading to an ashram run by Juna Akhara. Ashram is very peaceful and not crowded. we came to know that ashram also provides accomodation however we did not stay. We had herbal tea rejuvenating but too sweet. We saw lots of beautiful n novel birds of different varieties. You can get the view of Himalayas but we did not spot due to clouds. Coming back was more tiring due to steep downtrek. Overall a unique n peaceful experience. Do carry enough water and some light snacks. we also saw lots of plastic wrappers thrown around so kindly avoid the same - the place deserves our plastic...