Rudraprayag

<From Wikipedia>

This article is about the municipality in Uttarakhand, India. For its namesake district, see Rudraprayag distric 

Coordinates	30°17′N 78°59′
Country	India
State	Uttarakhand
District(s)	Rudraprayag
Population	2,242 (2001)
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Area • Elevation	• 895 metres (2,936 ft)
Footnotes
Website	rudraprayag.nic.in

Rudraprayag (Devanagari: रुद्र प्रयाग) is a town and a municipality in Rudraprayag district in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. Rudraprayag is one of the Panch Prayag (five confluences) of Alaknanda River, the point of confluence of rivers Alaknanda and Mandakini. Alaknanda then proceeds towards Devaprayag where it joins with Bhagirathi river to form the river Ganges. Kedarnath, a Hindu holy town is located 86 km from Rudraprayag.

Geography

Rudraprayag is located at 30.28°N 78.98°E. It has an average elevation of 895 metres (2,936 feet).

Demographics

As of 2001 India census, Rudra Prayag had a population of 2242. Males constitute 63% of the population and females 37%. Rudra Prayag has an average literacy rate of 75%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 80%, and female literacy is 68%. In Rudra Prayag, 13% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Rudraprayag - Confluence
of
Alaknanda and Mandakini

Confluence of Alaknanda (background) and Mandakini (foreground)

Evening prayers "Sandhya Aarti" at Rudraprayag

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Triyuginarayan Temple

 

Triyuginarayan Temple is a famous temple at Rudraprayag, devoted to Lord Vishnu.  The temple holds importance as it is considered to be the place where Shiva and Parvati got married. A perpetual fire burns in front of the temple, believed to be the holy fire of their wedding symbolising their eternal love for each other. It is a very special feature of the temple and revered greatly.



The Temple

The temple is built in the same architectural style as the Kedarnath and holds the statue of lord Vishnu, his consort and goddess of wealth, Lakshmi and of Saraswati, the goddess of arts and learning.

The temple also has a Brahma Shila in its premises, which is considered to be the exact spot where the marriage took place.

The temple is also famous for providing marital bliss to its devotees who come to worship here.

There are three water tanks (kund) namely Rudra Kund, Brahma Kund and Vishnu Kund where people usually take bath before visiting the temple. The water of the kunds is supposed to cure infertility.

Access:

The temple is accessible thorough a 5 kilometre long trek from Sonprayag.

Legend

Parvati was an incarnation of Sati, Shiva’s first wife and the daughter of Himavat, the personification of the Himalayas. Parvati in this life too wanted Shiva as her husband, and tried to attract him through her beauty. When he was not impressed, she underwent a very hard penance, lasting over thousands of years, asking Shiva to marry her. Shiva was finally impressed and requested Parvati to marry him at Guptkashi.

The wedding took place in Triyuginarayan where lord Vishnu participated as Parvati’s brother and Lord Brahma was the presided over the ceremonies. The ceremonies were watched by all the gods and sages of that time. The holy fire of the ceremony is still aflame and will continue burning forever, depicting the love between Shiva and Parvati.

Special

The temple holds special importance for married couples as it is believed to provide marital happiness in the lives of the devotees who come here. The water of the three holy water tanks (kund), situated near the temple, is supposed to cure infertility.

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Nag Raja Temple, near Tehri

Situated at an altitude of 2,903mts above sea level in the interior Tehri district, Sem Mukhem Temple is dedicated to Nag Raja. The temple holds esteemed respect and immense importance amongst the people of Tehri District. An easy trek of 7kms to Sem commences from Khamba Khal which is well accessible by motorable roads. Accommodation at Sem Mukhenm is provided by the Pandits of the Mukhem village.

 Nagdwar at Sem

 

The Temple

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Surkanda Devi, near Mussoorie

Three Sidh Peeths, are located on the top of three different mountains, dedicated to 'Sati' the wife of 'Lord Shiva'. All the three temples are linked with a famous tale when Sati, daughter of Daksha Prajapati, immolated herself at the sacrificial spot Lord Shiva took the dead body of his wife and started walking towards the Himalayas . The places where the parts of her dead body fell are known as Kunjapuri, Surkanda Devi and Chandrabadani and are thus worshipped as Siddha Peeths.

Surkanda Devi is situated at an elevation of 3,030 m above sea level near village Kaddukhal, the temple of the Surkanda Devi is 40 km from Mussoorie and 24 km from Chamba. The temple site is accessible on foot, being about 2 km from the motorable road connecting Kaddukhal. The snow-covered Himalayas and the forest area between Mussoorie and Chamba offer a splendid view. A big local fair is held here in the month of June every year, attracting tourists from all over.

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Ataria Temple, near Rudrapur

The renowned shrine of Goddess Atariya is 2kms from the bus stand off Rudrapur-Haldwani route. According to a famous folktale, when King Rudra was passing through his chariot, it got stuck in the marshy land after which he decided to build a temple and well at that spot. The Atariya temple is the same; a ten-day fair is held here during the Navratras. Large number of pilgrims visits this shrine during this occasion.

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Chaiti Devi Temple

2.5 km from bus stand on Kashipur-Bajpur route.

  

Large fair is held during the sacred Navratras and flocks of devotees visit this shrine during the festival. The Chaiti mela is the best known fair of Kashipur. 

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Moteshwar Mahadev

Moteshwar Mahadev
Location in Uttarakhand
Coordinates:	29°07′12″N 78°34′12″E
Name
Proper name:	Shree Moteshwar (Bheemashankar) Mahadev
Location
Country:	India
State:	Uttarakhand
District:	Udham Singh Nagar
Locale:	Kashipur
Architecture and culture
Primary deity:	Bhimashankar (Shiva)
Important festivals:	Maha Shivaratri

Kashipur (Govishn) is a historic place in Nainital Distt (Now U.S. Nagar) and around 1 km from this place is a place known as ujjanak. This is the place where Lord Shiva is situated in his full face as a Jyotirlingam known as Bheem Shankar. This is the Bheem Shankar Jyotirlingam.

Shree Moteshwar Mahadev also known as Shree Bheem Shankar Mahadev is an abobe of Lord Shiva in Kashipur, this place was known as the Dakini State in ancient days 

Pooja details

Timings: 6:00 AM to 12:00 Noon & 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM

Deity

Primary Deity : Shiva

Other Deity : Parvati, Kartikeya, Ganesha Hanuman, Kali, Bhairo

Fairs

Maha Shivratri Fair

Chaiti Mela

Shrawan Mela

How to Reach

Shree Moteshwar (Bheema Shankar) Mahadev is located in Ujjanak area of Kashipur which is around 3 km from the Kashipur Bus Station, Kashipur is well conncted via the Road with all major cities of North India, and is also linked to Delhi, Lucknow, Moradabad, Ramnagar & Varanasi via Train.

Nearest airport is at Pantnagar which is about 72 km from Kashipur.

Kashipur

Kashipur was known as Govishan or Govisana, during the time of Harsha (606–647 AD), when Xuanzang (631–641 AD) visited this region. The ruins of the large settlement of those days are still to be seen near the city.

Kashipur is named after Kashinath Adhikari, the founder of the township and Governor of the pargana, one of the officers of the Chand Kings of Kumaon in the 16-17 century.

Poet Gumani has written a poem on this town. Girital and Drona sagar are well known spots and are associated with the story of the Pandavas. The Chaiti mela is the best known fair of Kashipur. Today Kashipur is an important industrial township. In autumn (after monsoon) one can see the snowclad peaks of Trishul and its surroundings.

History

According to the Shiv Puran Bhima Shankar Jyotirlingam is situated in Kamroop but after seeing various historic and spiritual books this place is called as the place of Bheem Shankar Jyotirlingam reason for this is after looking to many of the spiritual books we come to know that this place was known as Kamroop. In past in Mahabharata time this place was also known as Dakini. and this was the reason why Adi Shankaracharaya has illustrated this place by saying "Dakiniyam Bhimashankaram".Its existence is also described by Kalidas in his "Raghuvansh". Hence we have to believe that this is the Kamroop Desh.

Why was this place known as Dakini ?

The reason for this is the forests which has gone from Saharanpur to Nepal consisted a Hidimba named devil which took birth in Dakini Yoni and got married with the Victorious PandavaBhushan BheemSen.In Fact she was a Dakini but as she lived in a devil posture she was called a Devil.

The Lingam of this temple is very large and touching the whole Ling with two human hands is impossible. This kind of Lingam is not present in any other part of the country. It is also believed that this Ling rises and till now it has reached Second Floor after seeing many facts we can say this temple was built around 302 AD. This temple also include a BharavNath temple and a Kund known as ShivGanga Kund and in front of this kund is river Kosi. West to this temple is a temple of Maa Jagdamba Bhagwati Balsundari and every year in month of chaitra a huge fair is organized here. A place known as kila which describes the historic nes of this temple. This is the kila where Guru Dronacharya gave teaching to Kaurava and Pandava Guru dronacharya motivated Bheemsen to reconstruct this temple which later was known as Bheem Shankar. Shravan Kumar also rested here West to this kila is Dronasagar which was also built by pandavas for their guru Dronacharya. The lingam of this temple is too fat so people here named it as "Moteshwar Mahadev".

Shree Moteshwar (Bheema Shankar) Mahadev is regarded as one of the 12 Jyotirlinga of Lord Shiva, information about this temple is also referred in Mahabharat

Shiv Manokamna Kund is just adjacent to the Temple. There is a Bhimashankar Temple near Pune in Maharastra, which was also referred to as Daakini country and considered as one of the Jyotirlinga. Bhimshankar temple near Guwahati, Assam is the jyotirlinga according to Sivapuran. According to "LINGA PURAN", Bhimasankar temple in Bhimpur near Gunupur of Rayagada Dist in South Orissa is also debated as one of the Jyotirling, which is situated at the western part of the holy Mahendragiri mountains and at the river.

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