Like every year, the three days long annual Kailash Yatra this year also culminated peace-fully. The Yatra that began its journey on September 8, from the ancient temple of Vasuki Nag Maharaj at Gatha, reached Kailash Kund situated at an altitude of 14500 feet in the feet of 18000 feet high mountain range from sea level, nearly 22 Kms away from Bhadar-wah town, after a night halt at Hayan. Yatra was given a rousing send off by thousands of people belonging to both the communities. On the occasion, SSP Doda S. Manohar Singh was conspicuous by his presence. 

Pertinent to mention, all concerned departments including Forest, PHE, and Health helped the Yatra become a successful and memorable event. According to the local administration as many as 600 security personal belonging to District Police, CRPF and RR were deployed to ensure safety and security of the large number of Yatris. The police had also taken the responsibility of providing first aid medication to the Yatris during the Yatra. Forest Division Bhadarwah under the supervision of Mohammed Ramzan Sheikh, Range Officer, Neeru Range and concerned Block Forester, Khurshid Ahmed Batt had made elaborate arrangement of fire wood at Hayan and Lake Site besides providing temporary culverts on few brooks en-route. The main attraction of the Yatra this time was the Tea Langer organised by the District Police where the SSP himself served tea to the Yatris at Seribazar. Local administration under the guidance of SDM Bhadarwah, Mr. Pandoorang supervised the whole Yatra arrangements. The Mahant of Kailash Yatra, Mastnath Yogi, however has criticized the administration for not doing much for the Yatris particularly on its failure to providing shelter and electricity at Hayan and Kailash Kund.  

Annual Kailash yatra is an important event for Bhadarwah. Besides religious importance it is significant in exploiting the tourism potential of the naturally beautiful valley also. On this occasion men particularly youth, belonging to both Hindu and Muslim communities pitch their tents in the sprawling Seoj pasture and spend night making merry around bonfire  till dawn. Seoj is a large meadow some five Kilometers ahead of Kailash Kund. This beautiful meadow has the potential to become worlds biggest and highest green golf course and luckily the incumbent Chief Minister has shown enough interest in this project. Last time when he brought the Union Tourism Minister, Ambika Soni to throw open the annual Bhadarwah Festival, he had made it a point to take her to Seoj also and briefed her about the great potential of this meadow amidst snow peaked mountains.

Historical Background: There are different legends about Kailash Yatra, however according to Des Raj Katal, who is considered an authority on History of Bhadarwah, the most plausible of all theories is that when Vasuki Naag chased by Yakhsh went to Kailash and requested Lord Shiva to protect him from his enemy, Lord Shiva gave him shelter in the holy lake. There, Vasuki Naag underwent a rigorous worship pleased by which Lord Shiva gifted his abode, the Kailash Mount and various lakes on it to Vasuki Naag. This theory seems to be most relevant because it is duly supported by ancient marks on the rocks en-route Kailash Yatra. After beginning from Gatha the holy mace of Kailash yatra proceeds towards main Vasuki temple at Bhadarwah where it is joined by another Yatra. Then, after passing through green paddy fields and paying obeisance at Shiv Temple at Gagal and Kali Naag at Sungli the huge procession reaches Jaslote plateau the place where prince Jimutvahan had offered his sacrifice to save Nagas from Garur. A small temple of Jasloo Devta is built here in memory of prince Jimutvahan. The procession of the holy mace stays there for a while and then continues its on ward journey.  After passing through a thick forest of Deodar, the holy mace reaches Hayan where ruins of an ancient Naag temple (Marhi) speak their tale of woes. The procession stays here for he night and remains awake amidst holy slogans and devotional songs of Vasuki Naag on the beats of drums. In the morning, the procession begins its on ward journey. Though the trek passes through dense forests the journey is arduous being steep.

At Gaopaida the procession stays for a while and the yatris quench their thirst with the icy cold water of the nearby Jigar gad. At Gaopeda presence of marks of the hoofs of a cow on a rock give legitimacy to the theory that at that place Vasuki Naag had assumed the form of a cow in a bid to dodge his enemy, Yakhsh. By the time the holy mace reaches Ramtund the yatris are almost exhausted.

Braham Shilla at Bolal known to be statue of Lord BrahmaRamtund is a small plateau from where Mount Kailash and the entire route leading to it are visible because due to high altitude the area is barren and there is no tree found there. At Ramtund there is a rock shaped as God Ganesha locally called as Ganoka. Legend says that this is the gate way to the mountain range of holy Kailash. Next to Ganoka there is another rock with foot marks of Lord Vishnu. Then come Shagerhni. These are two rocks in the form of two women carrying their babies on their backs and baskets of wild vegetables collected by them on their heads. According to the legend, chased by his enemy, Vasuki Naag while on his way to Kailash had turned the two ladies into stone by his spiritual powers because they had made a joke of him. A little away from Shagerhni there is yet another rock in the form of a man. It is said to be statue of Lord Brahma. Enroute to Kailash at Bolal there is a large boulder, which can be seen from Bhadarwah and its adjoining areas with naked eyes. The stone is called as Ghori in local parlance. It is said that when Vasuki Naag, fleeing for life looked back after reaching that place, he saw no signs of Yakhsh who had been left far behind. Tired as he was, Vasuki Naag went atop the big boulder to take some rest there. And soon he fell asleep. When Yaksh saw Vasuki Naag sleeping, his joy knew no bounds, but as it was unholy to kill an enemy when he was asleep, Yaksh decided to wait for Vasuki Naag to become awake. But being tired, he too fell asleep. After some time when Vasuki Naag woke up he was shocked to see his enemy sleeping beside him. At that time a stream of tears rolled down his cheeks making deep marks on the rock, which are present even today to tell that the above story has substance in it. Vasuki Naag stealthily climbed down the rock leaving Yakhsh in deep sleep and hastily marched ahead. But it was equally unholy to run away from the enemy when he was asleep, which was not acceptable to Vasuki Naag. So after walking a little distance, Vasuki Naag blew up Shankh to wake up Yakhsh from deep slumber. To prove the story true, a Shankh still exists there from which suddenly water springs out even today as soon as the holy mace reaches there. The vast and sprawling plateau hence called as Shankh Padhar. Another ancient mark in the way is in the form of Saadhu Marhi in its original form existing even today. It is also believed that Shandli Rishi had gone for rigorous worship here and the place hence is also known as Shandli Ashram. It is the last historical mark before reaching the holy Kailash Kund about half a mile distant from here.

Legend goes that when Vasuki Naag reached Kailash, the abode of Lord Shiva, he requested the Lord to protect him from Yakhsh. Conceding to his humble request, Lord Shiva asked Vasuki Naag to slip into the holy Kund. When Yakhsh came to know that Vasuki was hiding in the lake, he started drinking the water of the lake to make it dry. However he could not succeed in doing so because when the lake was about to dry, Gouri Mata, the consort of Lord Shiva broke the walls of her own lake called Gouri Kund situated above Kailsh Kund thereby filling Kailash Kund once again. Desperate as he was, Yakhsh left his job half way in frustration and went away. After sometime, Vasuki Naag came out of the lake and expressed his gratitude to both Lord Shiva and his consort, Goura Mata. He also made a fervent request to give a place in Kailash where he could keep himself safe from his enemy. Benevolent as he has been, Lord Shiva once again acceded to the request of Vasuki Naag and gave the entire range of Kailash mountain along with all lakes including Kailash Kund to Vasuki Naag as a gift and himself went away to settle in Manimahesh range of Mountain, which can be seen from mount Kailash as if it was just at an arms length.

In Vasuki Puran, Vasuki Naag has been described as a noble person and a popular King. When his subjects came to know that he had made Kailash as his abode, they went in the form of a procession to request him to return. But since Vasuki Naag had decided to spend remaining days of his life in the worship of God, he declined to return. The disappointed procession returned home, but went to Kailash every year in a bid to persuade their king to return home. The practice finally became an annual event and continues even today to be called as Kailash Yatra. The traditional Yatra dates back to prehistoric period therefore it may be described as a myth, but when seen in the background of different ancient marks on stones and rocks en route to Kailash Kund, it can genuinely be called as a historical truth.