Rudraprayag

Rudraprayag, the district headquarters of the same name, stands at one of the great sangams of the Garhwal Himalaya — the meeting of the Alaknanda, flowing down from the Badrinath valley, and the Mandakini, descending from Kedarnath.

• It is the second of the five sacred Panch Prayag confluences counted up from Devprayag, and it takes its name from Rudra, the fierce aspect of Shiva, who by tradition appeared here to bless the sage Narada.
• The town has a pivotal place in Himalayan travel because the road forks just above it: the Mandakini valley leads up to Kedarnath, while the Alaknanda highway continues toward Karnaprayag and Badrinath, so almost every Char Dham pilgrim passes through.
• At the confluence itself, reached by steps down to the stone-walled sangam, stand the Rudranath (Rudreshwar) and the cave shrine of Koteshwar Mahadev a little downstream, while the hilltop Chamunda Devi keeps watch above.
• Rudraprayag is also remembered in wildlife literature as the haunt of the man-eating leopard that Jim Corbett finally shot in 1926, commemorated near the town.
• As a Garhwal pilgrim town it is vegetarian and alcohol-free by custom, with simple sattvic dhabas and sweet shops along the highway and near the sangam serving puri-sabzi, kachori, rice-dal thalis and chai; confirm any specific eatery is pure-vegetarian on arrival.
• Best visited September to November and March to June, avoiding the monsoon landslide months; it is a natural overnight halt on the Kedarnath or Badrinath road, about a 5 to 6 hour drive from Rishikesh.