Rudraprayaag

Rudraprayaag is one of the many holy places in Uttarakhand. If Kerala is God’s own country (ad line) Uttarakhand is known as Deva Bhumi (Land of Gods). We visited Rudraprayaag on the way to Kedarnath.

The whole of Uttarakhand is in the eternal grip of dhimi dhimi sound of Shivathaandavam.. The more you near Kailash you can feel it.. Its just my feeling :) .. If you have some inclination towards nature you can start feeling it the moment you reach Rishikesh.. The Himalayas..the mountains pulls you….There is tremendous attraction to go, in spite of the hardships one has to endure.. Earthquakes, landslides, snowfall, avalanches and what not ! You are enthralled in the ‘Raudra bhaava’ of the nature. At the same time you are awed at the humble, simple and peace loving nature of the people there. What a contrast! In Kerala I see the opposite. The Saumya bhaava (Peaceful nature) of the nature. The beautiful, serene, calm and quite landscapes. But the people are ever agitated. Here the Raudra bhava is in the people. Again what a contrast!.

Rudrapraayaag is the embodiment of this contrast. It shows at the same place the serenity and the calamity. On the right and the left. On the right (of the confluence - of the temple) flows Mandaakini, the serene, the slow moving river with crystal clear water. On the left it is Dhauli(white) Ganga ever rushing, noisy - what a contrast!. A hundred steps down to the temple (that you see in the Pic.) and more than 150 steps to the river. It was tiring journey we (Urmila & myself ) came down hand in hand giving support to each other. When we reached and washed our feet in the Icy cold water of Mandaakini we forgot every hardship. A well relaxed feeling went through our spines. We looked into the water. Did we see some faces in water ? Rudraprayaag is famous for Jalasamaadhi. Many sadhus have ended their life here. Here you can leave your body as you just remove your dress. No cases charged. Just end it in the confluence of contrast and disappear into the oblivion. What an IDEA sahibji !