The Himalayas, the mind-blowing marvel …!
The color of the Ganges water keeps changing according to the force of its flow …
Prayag is the place where two or three rivers converge. We saw five prayags in our trip – Devaprayag, Rudraprayag, Karnaprayag, Nandaprayag and Vishnuprayag. Devaprayag is very famous for its holiness. Here, Baghirathi and Alaknanda rivers converge and flow in the name of Ganges. Alaknanda, which is flowing from Badrinath has already many rivers within herself. It merges with Mandakini River, which flows from Kedarnath at Rudraprayag. One gets the punyam of visiting the holy places of Badrinath and Kedarnath if he visits Devaprayag. Ragunath temple, one among the 108 Vaishnav shrines is also here.
Devaprayag is situated at a height of 472 mts (approximately 1,500 ft.) from the sea level. We reached Rudraprayag through Srinagar at 3 p.m. We had our lunch only then. Then, we climbed down to enjoy the enchanting beauty of the nature that surrounded us. From Rudrarayag, the route to Badrinath and Kedarnath is separated by roads. The road to the right, along with the river Alaknanda leads to Badrinath, while the road to the left along with the river Mandakini leads to Kedarnath. We started our journey with Mandakini.
It was 4.30 in the evening. Dehari, a small nearby town is a very beautiful place. It is through here that we go to Kedarnath through a cave. Next is Gundchatti. It is believed that, sage Agasthya did his penance here along the banks of Mandakini River. The adjacent town Guptakasi is at a height of 1479 mts (4440 ft.) from sea level. We crossed this place at around 5.30 p.m. The sight of children returning from school, wearing sweaters, hats and carrying school bags on shoulders was very energizing and untiring to the eyes! The hanging bridges above Mandakini were also very cute. The Chandrasekhara Mahadev temple and the Ardhanareeswarar temple in this place are very antique. Here, our cooks purchased vegetables required for the next day cooking. We also did some shopping. But suddenly, it was very dark. Our driver said that it was only another 25 kms. But the path, the darkness, the sound of the flowing river, the big mountains running along the path, everything scared us like anything! The place, which was looking enchantingly beautiful till a few hours ago, looked very frightening then! When we looked down, it was more than thousand feet deep. The chill air, which was breezing till then, now started needling our body with its chillness. All of us were tight-lipped out of fear. The driver stopped the car with a sudden brake. The pathway was only half wide! One of the wheels was raised and stood in the air! It is beyond my capacity to describe the fear we felt at that time. But the driver Sanjay Singh managed the situation and took all of us safely to our place.
We realized that the delay on our part, in spite of Ayyavu’s cautioning words, was the reason for this entire problem. If only, we had started earlier, we need not have to cross the mountainous path late at night. We could have crossed the 25 km distance when there was some light. We reached Rampur at 8 o’clock in the night. The place was at a height of 1946 mts (9,000 ft.)! I am unable to describe my feelings of joy and excitement when I saw that small hamlet.
