The village Mana.
Mana is 3kms ahead of Badrinath. A miniscule hamlet with a few houses. It is the last village on the Indian territory. Surrounded by lofty peaks it hosts the source of river Saraswati.

The raging Saraswati

Where most rivers start their journey as a stream, Saraswati gushes out as a raging torrent into a deep gorge. After 1/2 a km it merges into river Alaknanda and is lost for ever.

Mythology has it that the Pandavas crossed Mana on their way to heaven. It is also the site where Rishi Vyaas dictated the epic Mahabharta to Lord Ganesha, who wrote it down.

There are Vyaas “gufa”(cave) and Ganesh “gufa” where the respective individuals sat and wrote the entire epic. The original epic was written on the bark of a tree called the “Bhojpatra”. That bark is so fine that it puts the best quality paper to shame. I saw that tree and got a small piece of that bark with me.

A young “Bhojpatra” tree.

It is said that Lord Ganesha placed the condition that he would write only if Rishi Vyaas dictated continuously without stopping, to which Vyaas agreed but put in the condition that Ganesha would have to understand the shlokas and only then write them down. Once the individual conditions were agreed the writing of the epic started.

Then Vyaas realised that River Saraswati was making too much noise as it flowed out in a torrent, and was affecting his concentration. He then cursed Saraswati that she will lose her identity, and that no one could see her after this. When Saraswati apologised profusely then the sage agreed that she could make her appearance at Triveni sangam at prayag(present day Allahabad).

In Mana there is a rock called Vyaas Pothi, it is said that the entire script of Mahabharta was piled up for the scrutiny of Vyaas after Ganesha had finished writing. That rock actually looks as if lot of layers of thin slabs have been piled together.

The trek ahead.
There is a trek to Alaknandapuri from where the river Alaknanda comes out. The entire area is so pristine that one can easily believe all the stories.

I just could not resist having tea in this shop.