Kasar Devi is located around 8 km from Almora and 378 km from Delhi. Kasar Devi village derives its name from the local deity, Kasar Devi, who is worshiped as a form of Durga. Temple was made in 2nd century and it is situated on the kashyap hill. Here goddess katyani one of the eight form of goddess durga is worshiped here. The temple complex has two temples, one of which is Devi and another is of Lord Shiva and Bhairava. This is according to the Hindu text known as the Devi Bhagawat Puran. Moreover, the impressions of Goddess Durga’s lion are apparently still there behind the statue on a rock. The temple was built by King Rudrak and has awesome views of the Himalayas.
Kasar devi temple has a monolithic flame which in burnt 24 hrs a day. The main temple of the Goddess is located inside a cave. Swami Vivekananda was among the first of the luminaries who came to this place in 1890 and held it in high regard. Here kasar devi fair is organized at temple on the occasion of kartilk purnima during November and December every year.
But it is positioned on a hilltop near a ridge off the Almora-Bageshwar route that looks out over a settlement (also called Kasar Devi). Tall pine and deodar trees encircle the modest stone temple, which was built in the second century.
Although the fundamental cave-carved rock temple is almost 2,000 years old, the Birla family gave it its current form in 1948. Moreover, a temple dedicated to God Bhairav is located on the same hill. It is just 10-20 steps away from the Kasar Devi temple. It was the precise spot where Swami Vivekananda pondered and wrote about his supernatural encounters in his journals.
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It is said that Kasar Devi Temple is one of the three places on Earth under the impact of magnetic fields responsible for capturing Van Allen Belts discovered by NASA. It is said that NASA sent its scientists to learn about this mysterious place and accepted that the gap in what is called the Van Allen belt, is a charged collection particles that stick together due to earth magnetic fields in Kasar Devi.
It is a common belief that due to the presence of these fields, you get a peaceful and relaxing experience in Kasar Devi. I especially was excited to know about this as he is a time travel buff and keeps experimenting with radionics and electromagnetism. Who knows whether it’s a reality or a myth, but I believe that somethings are only revealed via direct experience and not by fact finding. Swami Vivekananda, amongst his countless pilgrimages, chose to travel to Kumaon to seek inner peace. India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru also spent his vacations at the Khali Estate owned by his sister Vijayalaxmi Pandit.
Later on, Richard Alpert also visited who was later named as Baba Ram Dass by Neem Karoli Baba. Scottish psychiatrist, R. D. Laing spent some time there in the early 1970s; as did Robert Thurman, the Buddhist scholar, who spent six months with his family, including their 3-year-old daughter Uma Thurman (famous Hollywood actress), studying with Lama Govinda. Another regular visitor to Kumaon in the 1930s was Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore also visited Kasar Devi.
