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From Pandukeshwar heading back to Rishikesh, we stopped at Vishnu Prayag. Before I describe about Vishnu Prayag I would like to explain few things I learned from local people about Prayag in Uttarakhand. Before this, I used to think Prayag is another name for the famous city of Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh. It is after visiting Uttarakhand I learnt, Prayag is a place of confluence or merging of two or more rivers. It actually means a place of Sacrifice in Sanskrit. At these points, when two rivers meet, one of the rivers sacrifices its name and identity to the other. There are five such prayags in Uttarakhand, the land of Gods as they say and I don't think any other states in India has these many Prayags. Rivers Dhauliganga, Nandakini, Pindari, Saraswati merge with Alaknanda and Sacrifices the name and their identities at Vishnu Prayag, Nand Prayag, Karna Prayag, RudraPrayag respectively and Alaknanda sacrifices its name and identity at Dev Prayag on merging with river Bhagirat...

On our journey back from Badrinath, we arrived Pandukeshwar. Pandukeshwar is a sacred place for Hindus, 18 kilometers from Joshimath and 22 kilometers from Badrinath. There are two temples in Pandukeshwar; Yogdhyan Badri and Vasudev temple. Yogdhyan Badri is one of the Sapta Badri's in the region. In this temple, the idol of Badrinath is seen meditating in a Yoga Posture, hence the name Yog dhyan Badri. Though there are no magnificent visuals in this region but Yogdhyan Badri is worth visiting place. It is one of the ancient temples we find in the region. One interesting observation is the rooftop of the temple resembles a Buddhist Stupa. Buddhist architecture is seen in this temple complex. I really loved the temple because of the sanctity to experience in this ancient temple. Unlike Badrinath, this temple is absolutely peaceful as it was not very crowded. It is located at the banks of Alaknanda surrounded by beautiful hills. You will see amazing blue water of A...