Snap Well

Completing the journey of Gangotri, we headed towards Kedarnath from Uttar Kashi and had a halt at Gupt Kashi. It is a fairly larger town in Kedar Khand (sector) of Gadwal Himalayas of Rudraprayag district in Uttarakhand. It is located in the Northern belt of Himalayas with lush green forests. The valley has large number of Mangolia trees locally known as Champa. Gupta Kashi is famous for an ancient Vishwanath Temple dedicated to Lord Siva as in Uttar Kashi. Gupt Kashi means secret kashi. There are few legends related to the name of this place. According to one legend, Lord Shiva lived in incognito at this place knowing that Pandavas are coming to meet him. He was angry and doesn't want to see them as he was not happy for their deeds in the battle of Kurukshetra. Another legend says that long back, Kashi in Varanasi was the home for many enlightened saints and sages. Due to increasing number of common people, they shifted their base to Uttarkashi. When commoners reached there

I heard many legends about "Rishikesh" since my childhood days. It is considered as Devi Bhoomi, the land of Gods and Tapo Bhoomi, the land of Penance. They say, many Gods lived here and great saints and sages did their tapas and attained enlightenment. Finally, after a long wait of 40 years I got a chance to visit Rishikesh. I must thank my teacher Smt. Zarna Mohan for conducting an Iyengar yoga workshop at Rishikesh. And how can I forget Parmeshwar ji who is responsible for the yoga workshop and our char dham yatra. Thank you Parmeshji. The major attraction of Rishikesh is off course the  sacred river Ganga. You will find many temples, yoga and Ayurveda centers and ashrams across the banks of river. It is considered as World Capital of Yoga as well. I haven't found the Rishikesh I heard of. It is very much crowded now and many trees in the forests have been shaved off for construction of ashrams, hotels and other commercial establishments. But still I got co