Vedic Hindustan

Devprayag

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Devprayag means “Godly Confluence” in Sanskrit. Devprayag is the sacred event of merging two heavenly rivers, Alakananda and Bhagirathi, to form the holy Ganges.

Bhagiratha was a great king who brought the River Ganges, personified as the river goddess Ganga, to Earth from the heavens. When he was prince of Sagara Dynasty, he did penance for a thousand years on the advice of his guru Trithala, to gain the release of his 60,000 great-uncles from the curse of saint Kapila which eventually led to descent of the goddess Ganga in the form of the river Ganges, to the earth. To commemorate his efforts, the head stream of the river is called Bhagirathi, till it meets Alaknanda River at Devprayag.

Bhagiratha was the king of Kosala, a kingdom in ancient India. He was a descendent of the great King Sagara of the Suryavanshi or Surya Dynasty. He was one of the forefathers of Lord Rama.

Raghunathji Temple

The temple was originally believed to have been established by Adi Shankara during the 8th century, with later expansions by the Garhwal Kingdom. The temple is located uphill on the confluence of Alaknanda – Bhagirathi rivers, which becomes river Ganga subsequently.

The temple is associated with the times of Ramayana. Raghunathaji (Lord Rama, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu) is believed to performed penance at this place to relieve himself off the curse committed by killing Ravana, a Brahmin demon king. Brahma, the Hindu god of creation, is once believed to have performed penance at this place and the place came to be known as Prayaga, meaning the best place to do penance. As per the same legend, the Vataka tree (Banyan tree) in the place would withstand all eartly disasters and would remain through ages. Vishnu is believed to reside in the leaves of the tree. The Pandavas performed penance at this place before the Mahabharat war. Sage Bharadwaja is also believed to have performed penance at this place and became one of the seven sacred sages, the Saptarishis.

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Devprayag is the sacred event of merging two heavenly rivers, Alakananda and Bhagirathi, to form the holy Ganges. Lord Rama performed penance at this place to relieve himself off the curse committed by killing Ravana.