Devprayag (INDIA)

Devprayag

in the state of Uttarakhand,

India, and is one of the Panch Prayag of Alaknanda River where Alaknanda and Bhagirathi rivers meet and take the name

Ganga or Ganges River.

On a terrace in the upper part of the village is the temple of Raghunathji, built of huge stones, pyramidal in form and capped by a white cupola.

Devprayag is full of natural beauty. Other than Sangam and Raghunath Ji Temple in Devprayag, one can visit sacred places like Mata Bhuvneshwari temple at nearby village Pundal followed by Dhaneshwar Mahadev temple, Danda Naggaraja (Lord of Snakes) temple and Chandrabadni temple.

Devprayag is the home of priests of Badrinath. They are known as "Pandas". Every Panda has his own region in whole country. A thousand year 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 cuisines of Devprayag are also rich and famous as Devprayag. Dishes like Singori and Bal Mithai keep an important place in Devprayagi's heart. Singori, traditionally made with khoya wrapped in form of a cone with Maalu leaves. The khoya absorbs the smell of Maalu leaves. On the other hand, Bal Mithai is a brown chocolate-like fudge, made with roasted khoya, coated with white sugar balls.