Nanda devi of almora

History of the raj jat yatra

This Raj jat yatra originates from Nauti village 25 km from karnprayag,in karnpryag tahsil of Indian state of Uttarakhand. The Kunwar of village Kansua inaugurates the ceremony. The legend is this that Nanda Devi, consort of Lord Shiva left her village and went to the nanda devi parbat. Therefore when the yatra starts, heavy rain occurs as if the devi is crying. This yatra covers many villages and in between the Devi meets her sister in the Bhagwati village.
This Journey is a difficult one because of the difficult terrain it goes through. During the journey one passes by a Lake known as Roopkund surrounded by hundreds of ancient skeletons. According to local mythology, once a King took some dancers to this sacred spot. Due to a heavy snowfall the people were trapped and the dancers were transformed into skeltons and stones that can be sen in Patarnachonia. Another myth is this that king Yasodhwal's wife was pregnant and while she was giving birth to her child, her placenta flowed down to Roopkund and this in turn caused the death of the people there.

 The story of nanda devi

During the period of Chand Kings, Nanda Devi worship took the shape of a Fair. Prior to this Nanda Devi was being worshipped, but at that time only an idol of Nanda Devi used to be worshipped. The custom to make two idols started from the period of Baj Bahadur Chand. Even today only one idol is prepared in the remote villages. The reason for this addition appears to because it appears that the goddesses Nanda and Sunanda together took birth as princesses in the royal family and to mark this new reincarnation, the practice of celebrating a festival for both sisters together was introduced in which a story of from their life is enacted. There is folk lore that while walking in the forest a bull chased them. They hid themselves behind a banana tree. A goat came there and ate away the banana leaves with the result Nanda and Sunanda were visible to the bull, which killed both the sisters. This is the reason that goat and bull are sacrificed during the celebrations.
The twin peaks of the Nanda Devi and Sunanda Devi Mountain are said to be the abode or represent the two goddesses. These graceful peaks are visible from most of Kumaon division of Uttarakhand province of India.
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