Raghunath Math (Raghunathji Temple), Devprayag

Devprayag sits at the most consequential of the Panch Prayag, the five sacred confluences threaded along the Alaknanda river system in the Garhwal Himalaya: here the Alaknanda, flowing down from beyond Badrinath, meets the Bhagirathi, flowing down from Gaumukh near the Gangotri glacier, and the combined river takes the name Ganga (Ganges) for the rest of its course to the plains and the sea. Two bathing kunds mark the point of union — Vasistha Kund on the Bhagirathi side and Brahma Kund on the Alaknanda side — and the confluence is traditionally held to rank alongside the Triveni Sangam at Prayagraj in sanctity.

On a terrace above the town stands the Raghunath Math, also called the Raghunathji Temple, built of massive stone blocks in a pyramidal form and topped with a white cupola. Inside, a roughly 15-foot image of Rama, carved from black granite and worshipped here as Raghunath, is the temple’s central icon; local tradition holds the image was installed some 1,250 years ago, though this is devotional dating rather than a documented archaeological date, and no verifiable construction date survives for the temple building itself. Devprayag is also the site of one of the 108 Divya Desams of the Sri Vaishnava canon (Thirukkandam, sung by the Alvar Periyalwar), commemorated separately in this directory at the nearby Purushothaman Temple — a reminder that this single confluence carries more than one layer of Vaishnava sacred geography.

As the town where the Ganga is formally considered to begin, Devprayag is a standard stop for pilgrims travelling the Char Dham Yatra route toward Badrinath, many of whom bathe at the confluence and visit the Raghunath Math before continuing north. The town lies directly on National Highway 58, about 70 km from Rishikesh by road.