Visit to Royal Rudraprayag in India

The Northern region of India is full of beautiful hill stations and the places of pilgrimage in India. This is due to the presence of famous mountains range of Himalayas. All the Hindus wish to visit some of these places at least once in their life due to their religious importance. One such famous pilgrimage place is Rudraprayag, which is situated at the distance of around 20 miles from Shreenagar. It comes on the way of the famous four dham pilgrimage of Hindus. All the pilgrims take some rest here prior to commencing the tough pilgrimage of famous four dhams.

All the towns whose names end with the word Prayag indicate that there is a sangam of one or more Rivers. This is as per Hindu mythology. Rudraprayag is situated at the height of around 9800 feet from the mean sea level. Due to this, the weather remains very cool here most of the time in a year. Particularly, the winter months from November to March are extremely severe and almost all the routes towards Rudraprayag get closed due to heavy snowfall. The tourists can reach Rudraprayag by bus or hired cars from Shreenagar, Haridwar, and Rishikesh. Make sure to travel to Rudraprayag during the period of May to October only. There is a sangam of River Mandakini, which has originated from Kedarnath and the River Alakhnanda coming from Badrinath, here at Rudraprayag. Both these Rivers reach Rudraprayag at full speed and the meeting point of these two rapidly flowing Rivers presents the most thrilling view to all the tourists. There is a lot of religious importance of taking a holy bath at this sangam point as per the Hindu mythology. The tourists would need to get down around 360 steps to reach the waters of flowing Rivers. There is a chained ghat available for taking a bath here at Rudraprayag. Make sure to take bath holding these chains firmly in your hands as otherwise the danger of slipping inside the rapidly flowing Rivers is real. The river water is extremely cold here and taking a bath may present real problems to some of the tourists. There are famous temples of Rudreshwar Mahadev, Naradeshwar Mahadev, Someshwar Mahadev, and the Gopaleshwar Mahadev on the sangam ghat. All these Lord Shiva temples are very ancient, around 2000 years old. Some of these temples have been said to be built by the Pandavas during the Mahabharata times. There is also a holy and ancient temple of Annapurna Mata near to the sangam ghat. Make sure to visit all these temples as they are located very near to the sangam point. The atmosphere and the surroundings to these temples are simply divine and you will not like to get up and go away from this spiritual place. The famous ashram of Agastya Muni is situated at around 11 miles from Rudraprayag on the way to Kedarnath. It is said that rishi Agastya had performed tap for a long period of twelve years at this point.

There are many dharmshalas available at Rudraprayag for the pilgrims. However, the modern facilities are not available here and you must be prepared to face some such inconveniences during your stay at Rudraprayag. I still feel that such nonavailabilty of modern amenities only add to the fun and the enjoyment due to closeness with Mother Nature. However, the aged and sick people must try to avoid visiting such places. The standard Indian vegetarian food delicacies are available in ample here at Rudraprayag. Make sure to carry some candles, lighter, match sticks, torch, and heavy woolen clothes with you during your trip to Rudraprayag. The stay of around couple of days may be sufficient at Rudraprayag to cover all the places of interest. Also, try to carry some cash money with you as there are no banking or ATM facilities here at Rudraprayag.

I would suggest all the adventure lovers to visit Rudraprayag to enjoy the most spectacular virgin beauty of Himalaya Mountains range during their next visit to India.