Mandakini’s spiritual and natural strength is hurt due to ‘controlling’
Vidya Bhushan Rawat
SAMAJ WEEKLY UK- River Mandakini is one of the biggest tributaries of river Alaknanda which is one of the biggest tributaries of river Ganga in the Himalayas. Mandakini is an amazing river which rises from Chorbari glaciers of the Kedarnath Himalayas at an altitude of 6000 meters. It passes through the amazing abode of Lord Shiva at Kedarnath and descend towards Gaurikund, another important pilgrim place. The river look icy and energetic when passing through the curvy mountain region surrounded with Chir and pine trees.
At Sonprayag, river Vasuki or Songanga meets Mandakini. It is am amazing site to witness the confluence. Onwards, the river known as Mandakini now passes through Madhyamaheshwar, one of the Five Kedars in the Himalayas. Another important among them is Tungnath which is located a bit away from the river but very much part of the river basin.
It does not touch holy town of Guptkashi and passes through Kund, about 7 kilometers ahead of the town, though known to be part of it. At Kund there is a reservoir made on the river which controls its water. Till Kund the current in the river is extremely powerful and is extremely shining particularly during the sunny weather. From a distance, the river look serpentine at many places with amazing brightness.
Sadly, after Kund, once its water is controlled through reservoir, river mining is a routine work of the contractors blessed and encouraged by the authorities. It gives a painful look at many places to see this beautiful river turning dry but again when the water is released then it comes back to old shines.
It passes through some important religious places like Chandrapuri, Agatsyamuni and Tilwara before reaching Rudraprayag where it conflate with Alaknanda coming from Satopanth glaciers and already bringing the water of Dhauli Ganga, Nandakini and Pindar rivers. The confluence at Rudraprayag below the the ancient Shiva Temple is simply amazing. On any bright sunny day, if you are a nature lover, you would just like to sit on the bank of the river near the confluence and watch its journey. I loved to notice the color of the confluence at different time zones like in the morning, during the day and in the evening when the sun set out.
Mandakini traversed around 80 kilometers from its source till the confluence at Rudraprayag.
These rivers are our life lines. They protect us and give us immense joy. They are our spiritual strength too apart from being the part of Himalayan ecology and contributing to huge boi diversity. It is time, we protect them, respect and dont treat them as our ‘resource’. As person from these regions, I would call Himalayas as well as its rivers and mountains our identity and heritage. We stop call them as our resources to be exploited for industrial greed. Let us protect Himalayas and its river system and enjoy this glorious heritage of nature.
