Situated at an average altitude of 830 m in the Tehri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand, Devprayag is one of the five holy confluences also famously known as the Panch Prayag of the Alakananda River. Surrounded by 3 godly peaks, named Dashrathanchal Parvat, Giddhanchal Parvat and Narsinghancal Parvat, the town of Devprayag is currently a famous pilgrimage spot.
One of the major water sources of the River Ganga is the Bhagirathi River, which rises at the foot of the Gangotri Glacier at Gomukh in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. And it is here, in Devprayag, where the Bhagirathi and Alakananda rivers meet to form the Holy Ganga. In Sanskrit, Devprayag means "godly confluence".
Overview of Devprayag
The Ganga River is formed in Devprayag and thus the place is of great religious significance. The town of Devprayag is the seat of Badrinath Dham pundits and is thronged by Hindu devotees. Devprayag also has an observatory built by Pt. Chakradhar Joshi, a scholar in Astronomy and Astrology, in the year 1946. This observatory is located atop the Dashrathanchal Parvat and is well equipped with ancient as well as latest resources like telescopes and various books to facilitate and support research in astronomy. The observatory also contains about 3000 manuscripts from 1677 AD onwards, collected from various parts of the country.
Other than observatories, Devprayag has numerous temples like the Raghunathiji Temple located on the Giddhanchal Parvat and is built of huge stones, pyramidal in form and capped by a white cupola. Then there are the sacred places like Mata Bhuvneshwari temple in the nearby village of Pundal followed by the Dhaneshwar Mahadev temple, Danda Naggaraja, which is the Lord of Snakes temple and the Chandrabadni temple.
In Devprayag, there is a place on the banks of the Bhagirathi River called Betal Kund, which is popular among the tourists. It is said that a holy bath in this hot water spring can cure one of leprosy.
Visiting Information on Devprayag
The nearest airport to reach Devprayag is the Jolly Grant Airport near Dehradun which is 116 km away. The nearest railway station is at Rishikesh. Haridwar railway junction is just 24 km far from Rishikesh. It has train connections to most of the major cities of India. Devprayag lies on national highway 58 that connects Delhi with Badrinath and Mana Pass in Uttarakhand near Indo- Tibet border.
