Babaji's cave near Ranikhet: where Lahiri Mahasaya received Kriya Yoga
Two books, written decades apart, describe the same hillside above Dwarahat. What each one says, and the official route to the hill today.
Checked by Sadhana Saarthi on
For many practitioners of Kriya Yoga, the caves above Dwarahat in Kumaon are where their lineage becomes visible. Autobiography of a Yogi places the first meeting of Lahiri Mahasaya and Babaji here. Apprenticed to a Himalayan Master describes a journey to the same cave. It is remote, the paths are steep, and there are two different places called Dunagiri in Uttarakhand, so accuracy matters here.
What the source says
- Lineage text
Lahiri Mahasaya's own account, as retold to Yogananda: in the autumn of 1861 he was transferred to a new army post at Ranikhet. Out walking in the hills, he heard his name called, climbed Drongiri Mountain, and came to a clearing lined with caves where a young ascetic was waiting for him. Babaji told him it was he who had brought about the transfer.
Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramhansa Yogananda, chapter 34
- Lineage text
At a touch on the forehead, Lahiri Mahasaya remembered a past life spent in that same cave as Babaji's disciple. He was sent to spend the night on the bank of a river the 1946 text calls the Gogash, and was initiated into Kriya Yoga during this stay.
Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramhansa Yogananda, chapter 34
- Lineage text
A photograph in the book shows one of Babaji's caves in the Drongiri Mountains near Ranikhet, with a grandson of Lahiri Mahasaya and other devotees visiting.
Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramhansa Yogananda, "Photograph caption (among the pages of chapter 11 in our copy)"
- Lineage text
Sri M describes travelling through Ranikhet and Dwarahat to Kukurchina (today's Kukkuchhina), intending to visit the cave where Lahiri Mahasaya met his guru. He walked through Pandukhali (today's Pandukholi), found the cave empty and still, sat in practice there, and then followed a tunnel to a second cave where his own teacher was waiting.
“Come, come Madhuji, long time yes?”
Apprenticed to a Himalayan Master: A Yogi's Autobiography, Sri M, chapter 38
What tradition holds
- Pilgrim tradition
Sri M passes on a local belief that the Pandavas lived for a while near the path to the cave during their exile.
- Pilgrim tradition
That Babaji's cave is on Pandukholi hill. The Almora district administration says so in its own description of the place, and it is where pilgrims go today. Neither book gives a map.
What you will find today
According to the Almora district administration, Pandukholi is about 27 km from Dwarahat. The trek is about 5 km from near the Dunagiri temple, or about 3 km from the road at Kukkuchhina, and the caves at Pandukholi are at about 8,000 feet.
We give distances, not walking times: no official source gives a time, and we have not timed the walk ourselves. The district page mentions no permit. Incredible India says Almora can be visited all year and singles out March to May for trekking and hiking.
One thing is already clear from the maps: the Dunagiri near Dwarahat in Almora district is a different place from the Dunagiri peak in Chamoli district. Check which one a route or blog means before you rely on it.
Last checked via District Almora, Government of Uttarakhand (https://almora.nic.in/dunagiri-to-pandukholi/); Incredible India, Ministry of Tourism (https://www.incredibleindia.gov.in/en/uttarakhand/almora).
A practice for this place
Walk the last stretch in silence, at an easy pace, breathing through the nose. At the cave, sit for twenty minutes with the spine upright.
If you have been initiated into Kriya Yoga, practise as your teacher taught you. If you have not, keep to plain breath awareness. This is not the place to try techniques read about in a book.
Carry water and warm layers, and turn back with plenty of daylight left. In the book, Lahiri Mahasaya worried about exactly this on his way up.