A slice of history – Kasar Devi, Crank’s Ridge and Timothy Leary

The beautiful thing about travel is the stories you get to take back with you and share with loved ones. New experiences, fascinating people, appreciating the differences in culture – all of these make travel worth it. Places change, people leave but their stories are forever. At The Orchard, our luxury boutique hotel in Peora, we are fortunate to be surrounded by places of history, spirituality and legend. The state of Uttarakhand, in particular, has so many fascinating tales attached to it. People from all over the world, past and present came here in search of a different way of life where spirituality and teachings from learned men were lapped up. Some of these men dabbled with substances, natural or otherwise. 

A mere one hour drive from The Orchard takes you to Kasar Devi known for its temple in a village near Almora, Uttarakhand. But it became famed for the throngs of foreign people who came on a visit only to settle down. So what was it about this area that became such an attraction? It was because the temple is surrounded by a massive geomagnetic field because it falls under something known as the ‘Van Allen Radiation Belt’.  Because of its high energy magnetic field, those who have come here to meditate have commented on feeling a lot more rejuvenated as compare to other places. NASA has even conducted research here to understand the reasons behind this belt’s formation. Interestingly there are two other places that are famous for its high energy and that is Machu Picchu in Peru and the Stonehenge in England. 

Kasar Devi’s first brush with fame happened in the 1890s. Swami Vivekananda came to meditate here and noted his experience in his journals. Then came the westerners like Alfred Sorensen, a Danish mystic who went by the name Sunyata Baba and came more. When places become known for the peace it offers, the hippies will follow and by the time of the 1960s you had a lot of famous people who came down for those looking for an opportunity to merge with the counterculture here. Legendary visitors include Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Cat Stevens, and DH Lawrence the writer of Lady Chatterley’s Lover. 

One name you should know is that of Timothy Leary. He was a psychologist who was fired from his position at Harvard University because of his radical beliefs, mainly for propagating the use of psychedelic drugs. He was most known for his experiments with LSD, a psychedelic or a hallucinogen. Those who partake have reported a heightened awareness of their surroundings, modified thoughts and feelings. Several users have seen or heard things that simply do not exist and it is common for bodily reactions such as high body temperature, high blood pressure and dilated pupils to occur. These effects are felt in the first half an hour of consumption and can last for a whole day. All of this resulted in American President at the time Richard Nixon deeming him as America’s most dangerous man. Leary occupied a tiny ridge that would come to be known as Crank’s Ridge in the 1960s just outside of Kasar Devi along with several other hippies and he and his group dabbled with different pathways to spirituality. 

Timothy Leary and his college from Harvard Richard Alpert became disciples of Neem Karoli Baba of the Kainchi Dham Ashram not too far from Nainital. In fact, it was thanks to the Leary and his peculiarities as well as that of his followers that Crank’s Ridge got its other name  Hippie Hill. The hippies experimented by living in the nude and smoking wild cannabis. Visiting this Crank’s Ridge would be exciting especially when one is armed with interesting anecdotes of western visitors. There was a point in time when it was the place to be for artists, poets, mystics. In fact thanks to these tales, Kasar Devi is now a cult destination that attracts backpackers and celebrities and tech titans all who come for discrete sojourns in the hopes of going back home enlightened and rejuvenated.