Place · river confluence · India
Rudraprayāg
The fourth of the Panch Prayag confluences on the Alakananda, where the Mandakini (flowing down from Kedarnath) joins at 895m in Rudraprayag district. Named for Shiva as Rudra — the god is said to have granted darshan to Narada here. The town is the junction of the two Char Dham approaches: pilgrims to Kedarnath turn east up the Mandakini, those bound for Badrinath continue north on the Alakananda. The 2013 Uttarakhand floods devastated the valley above the confluence and ravaged the town.
- Periods
- Classical and Puranic Age
- Function
- Water & infrastructure
- Tradition
- Himalayan pilgrimage geography
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 30.284, 78.981
Connections (2)
- PilgrimageKedāranāth
Kedarnath stands at the head of the Mandakini valley, and the Mandakini joins the Alaknanda at Rudraprayag. That makes Rudraprayag the fork of the whole Garhwal pilgrimage: the Kedarnath stream and the Badrinath stream meet here, and a pilgrim doing both dhams necessarily passes through twice. The 2013 flood, which destroyed much of the Kedarnath route, came down this valley and through this town.
- Site adjacencyUkhimath
Ukhimath, where Kedarnath's utsava murti rests from Bhai Dooj to Akshaya Tritiya, lies forty kilometres up the Mandakini from Rudraprayag, and Rudraprayag is the road and river gateway to it. That ties the confluence into the seasonal machinery of the high shrine: the deity, the Rawal and the priesthood all come down this valley in November and go back up in April, past the same confluence twice a year.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Rudraprayag”. Archaeological Survey of India and State Archaeology monument records, and the standard regional literature.
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