The journey to Panch Prayags of Uttarakhand commences from Haridwar. Some people call it Haridwar, and some call it Hardwar. This is the place from where the road goes to Kedarnath and Badrinath.
Badrinarayan is Hari, so it is called Haridwar. Kedarnath is Shankarji, i.e. Har, so it is called Hardwar. This is the gateway to both. Uttarakhand is also called heaven, so Hardwar is also called âSwargdwarâ.
What are the 5 Prayags of Uttarakhand?
The Panch Prayags of Uttarakhand are :
The word âPrayagâ means âplace of confluence of riversâ in Sanskrit.
Devprayag
There is an easy way to reach Panchprayag from Rishikesh. The holy pilgrimage of Devprayag is located seventy kilometers from Rishikesh. Here is the sacred confluence of Alaknanda and Bhagirathi. A large number of devotees visit Raghunathji Temple to get the blessings of Lord Ram. This place is very picturesque and full of natural beauty. Kalikamaliwalaâs Dharamshala is located here.
From here, Bhagirathi is referred to as Gangaji.
One route leads directly to Vadarikashram, while another goes to Gangotri-Yamunotri. Additionally, a third route heads to Tehri. This pilgrimage is detailed in the Kedarkhand of Skandapuran. In Satyayug, Dev Sharma, a Brahmin, performed severe penance.
Brahmin did penance for a thousand years by eating dry leaves, Lord Vishnu gave him darshan and granted him the desired boon.Â
This place is very charming and dear. The inner soul is mesmerized by forest, mountains, terraced fields, and innocent villages. After having a great time visiting this place and praying to all the gods and goddesses, we proceeded further. We started moving towards Rudraprayag after observing the unmatched beauty of the forest and mountains.
Rudraprayag
From Devprayag, we crossed Maleta, Kirtinagar, and Srinagar and reached Rudraprayag. Here is the confluence of Alaknanda and Mandakini. This pilgrimage has been described in detail in the Puranas. Here, on the orders of Brahma Ji, Devrishi Narad Ji meditated for thousands of years. He had the darshan of Lord Shankar. Lord Shankar gave Narad Ji complete knowledge of âGandharva Shastraâ and a Veena named âMahatiâ.
A little above the confluence, there is a Linga of Lord Shankar named âRudreshwarâ. People come here and get the blessings of darshan. Here, Mandakini from Kedarnath and Alaknanda from Badrinath come and enhance the importance of this pilgrimage through the confluence.
There is a temple of Rudranath Ji. Devotees visit here throughout the year and get blessings. The natural scenery is very beautiful. Here is the triangular center point of the three districts. The winding roads look very beautiful.People immerse themselves in this place with devotion and satisfy their devotion.
After offering prayers to Lord Shankar, they proceed further towards âKarnaprayagâ.
Karnaprayag
After traveling a distance of 31 km from Rudraprayag, we reached Karnaprayag. Here is the confluence of Alaknanda and Pindar Ganga. There is a very old temple of Bhagwati Uma here. To the west of the confluence is the grand Tapasthali of Danvir Karna in the form of a rock. There is also a temple here.
Here, great Karna worshipped Lord Surya and obtained impenetrable armor and earrings. This place is known as Karnaprayag because it is the place of penance of Karna. The natural scenery here looks very pleasant. Small canals are dug out from here and farming is done.
Here, a good industry of woolen clothes runs at the place Neemtala. Earlier, this was Chamoli district. Now its name has been changed to Gopeshwar. Here, at some distance, Hathi Parvat, Kagbhusund Parvat, Marali village, Cheyam Meyam village, Ghatgaon, Chikola village, etc. are seen frolicking day and night in the lap of nature.
Nandaprayag
Nandprayag is only 20 km from Karnaprayag. Here is the confluence of Alaknanda and Nandakini. This place is situated on the Badrinarayan Route. The mythological story of this place is that Nand Maharaj had performed a tough penance here. Lord Narayan was pleased and asked him to ask for a boon. Nandji asked to get lord Narayan as a son. Narayan gave him the boon.
There is a beautiful temple of Nanda Devi here. This place is named Nandprayag because of Nandaâs temple, Nandaâs tapasthli, and the confluence of Nandakini.
There is a temple of Lord Shankar at the confluence. There is a temple of Laxminarayan and Gopalji here. There are very tall pine trees in abundance here. A little further from here are places like Peeparkoti, Garud Ganga, Tangni, Helang, etc. The natural beauty here is immense. In some places, milky stream waterfalls from the mountains create a beautiful scene.
Vishnuprayag
Vishnuprayag is located just 10 km away from Joshimath. Here is the holy confluence of Dhori Ganga and Alaknanda. This pilgrimage has been described in detail in Skanda Purana. Here both the holy rivers have been described to have five kundas each.
From here the subtle effect of Badrinath Dham can be seen. Two mountains stand as protectors which are known as Jai and Vijay. Here the water flow is very fast. No one can take a bath by entering the stream. One has to take a lota (tumbler) to take a bath here. One has to sit on the bank and take water from the stream to take a bath. The water is extremely cold.
