Dhari Devi lies in a brand-new, red-and-gold temple built in the middle of the Alaknanda River.Devotees bearing offerings to the sanctuary of this Hindu goddess walk along a narrow footbridge adorned with small signs displaying philosophical principles drawn from ancient scriptures. She is revered as the protector of Uttarakhand, the most sacred of the Indian Himalayan states. According to legend, the goddess’s appearance changes over the course of the day: She first appears as a young girl, then as a woman, and finally as an old lady at dusk.

With her black face and bulging eyes, this gold-adorned deity is the guardian of the four Hindu temples nestled 200 kilometers away, at the foot of the glaciers high in the Himalayas, known as Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri. The Dhari Devi sanctuary marks the gateway to the region, which is isolated for half the year at more than 3,300 meters in altitude. From May to October, millions of Hindus flock to these four sites – regarded as the abodes of the gods Vishnu and Shiva, and the goddesses Ganga and Yamuna – for the pilgrimage called the “Four Small Abodes,” the Chota Char Dham.

Everything had been going well in the valley until 2013, when the authorities decided to demolish the original Dhari Devi temple, located further upstream on the river, to make way for a hydroelectric dam. The locals protested, warning that it would be dangerous to provoke the anger of the incarnation of Kali, the goddess of destruction, but it made no difference, and the construction work began.

The source of the rivers

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