Trek to Madmaheshwar by Indrajit Bandyopadhyay

Photo Essay
Trek to Madmaheshwar – 1
by Indrajit Bandyopadhyay

Image (c) Indrajit Bandyopadhyay

I am again back to Madmaheshwar after 6 years with my brother Ujjal Banerjee. Madmaheshwar is one of the five Kedars in India. According to legend, Lord Shiva's navel fell here torn apart by whom else…Bhima! When lord Shiva was trying to avoid the Pandavas in the guise of a buffalo, Bhima recognized him with a trick and caught hold of the buffalo. The resultant tug-of-war dismembered the buffalo into six parts. The five places where the five parts fell are the five Kedars – Kedarnath, Madmaheshwar, Tunganath, Rudranath and Kalpeshwar. The sixth part fell in Nepal, and that is the Pashupathinath temple.

Other than being a pilgrimage to Lord Shiva, the place is rich in flora and fauna and offers all the diversities a trekker can dream of.

We start from Hardwar as usual, reach Rudraprayag at a distance of 162 km by bus. We stay overnight at Rudraprayag. This picture is of the confluence of Alakananda (right stream) coming from Badrinath, and Mandakini (left stream) coming down from Kedaranath.

– Continued