Devprayag a Holy Place,Uttarakhand,India
Devprayag is a town and a nagar panchayat (municipality) in Tehri Garhwal district in the state of Uttarakhand, India, and is one of the Panch Prayag (five confluences) of Alaknanda River where Alaknanda and Bhagirathi rivers meet and take the name Ganga or Ganges River
Devprayag is surrounded by 3 Godly peaks, named Giddhanchal Parvat, Dashrathanchal Parvat, and Narsinghancal Parvat. Giddhanchal Parvat is on top of Raghunnath Ji temple. Narsinghanchal Parvat is in front of Giddhanchal Parvat and Dashrathanchal Parvat is on top right side of Sangam. Lord Shiva is worshiped here in the form of Linga, named Tondeshwar Mahadev and Dhaneshwar Mahadev. Tondeshwar Mahadev is Just in front of Sangam. It is very crowded on the day of Mahashivratri. Many devotees arrives here to donate Gangajal on Linga. Dhaneshwar Mahadev is in route on old Badrinath Way, starts from Bah Bajar (A market in Devprayag). With this way devotees can reach at Just another temple of Maa Durga in Pundal Village. In this temple, Maa Durga is worshiped in Maa Bhuvneshwari form. The temple of Maa Bhuvneshwari is situated at Pundal village which is at footstep of approx 500-700mtrs from Dhaneshwar Temple.Mishras live here in Pundal village.
Devprayag is divided into three parts. One is Bah Bazzar(Pouri Side part), second one is Beech Bajar (laying down to the Highway No.58)and the third is Shanti Bazar, main bus stand of Devprayag.
Devprayag is the place where river Alaknanda & Bhagirathi confluence, but according to mythology, there is another river belong to this confluence named Saraswati which originates from Mana Village in Badrinath and in Devprayag, the river comes from the feet of Shri Raghunath Ji in Raghunath Temple. There are also the footprints of Lord Rama exist at Ram Kunda.
Devprayag is the home of priests of Badrinath. They are known as Pandas. Every Panda has his own region in whole country. A thousand years ago, when Adiguru Shankaracharya came to the area in Badrikashram in the 8th century, many South Indian Brahmins from different areas with different castes came over here with Aadiguru. These were Tetriya Krishna Yajur Brahmin. Inspired by the wisdom of Brahmins, Maharaja of Garhwal assigned them to worship Lord Ram in Raghunath Temple in Devprayag. When these Brahmins arrived at Badrinath, they were worshiped by the pilgrims. Since then, Brahmins are known as Panda in Dham and everywhere. Pandas worship devotees of the same area of each region they offers. Every Panda plays a significant role in any devotee life while he arrives Badrinath for Puja or Darshan. While they arrive Badrinath, Pandas look after them very carefully. Pandas organize everything for their Yatri like food, accommodation, puja's tickets, and everything which is really needful to the yatri. Pandas have a thousands years of literature of their devotee(Yatri). In this literature, every information is mentioned about devotee's last 3 or 4 generations. Every Panda having various types of books related to his Yatri's information, like Bahi, Daskhati and all others. Every Yatri is identified with the help of these books. The peoples of Devprayag (Pandas) spend their 6 months of a year at Badrinath and rest of 2-3 months in Devprayag. They spend this in their own regions. It is quite hard for a Panda and his family as He spends very less time with the family. Many peoples say that Pandagiri is a very normal and less prestigious occupation. But as it belongs to their God Almighty and this is their patrimonial occupation, it automatically becomes more prestigious rather than the other occupations.+ the other hand, Bal Mithai is a brown chocolate-like fudge, made with roasted khoya, coated with white sugar balls.
Devprayag is surrounded by 3 Godly peaks, named Giddhanchal Parvat, Dashrathanchal Parvat, and Narsinghancal Parvat. Giddhanchal Parvat is on top of Raghunnath Ji temple. Narsinghanchal Parvat is in front of Giddhanchal Parvat and Dashrathanchal Parvat is on top right side of Sangam. Lord Shiva is worshiped here in the form of Linga, named Tondeshwar Mahadev and Dhaneshwar Mahadev. Tondeshwar Mahadev is Just in front of Sangam. It is very crowded on the day of Mahashivratri. Many devotees arrives here to donate Gangajal on Linga. Dhaneshwar Mahadev is in route on old Badrinath Way, starts from Bah Bajar (A market in Devprayag). With this way devotees can reach at Just another temple of Maa Durga in Pundal Village. In this temple, Maa Durga is worshiped in Maa Bhuvneshwari form. The temple of Maa Bhuvneshwari is situated at Pundal village which is at footstep of approx 500-700mtrs from Dhaneshwar Temple.Mishras live here in Pundal village.
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