Mark your steps to the land of God, Badrinath at Urvashi Dhara
Besides serving us with natural beauty, Badrinath is a sacred Hindu site that binds us with the ancient Puranic times and the tales. And within Badrinath, are the Panch Dharas, flowing with their specific own tales. One of which is ‘Urvashi Dhara', which is the one on the right of Rishi Ganga river.
Originating from the Neelkanth mountains, Urvashi dhara represents Urvashi, the most beautiful of all Apsaras. Hir birth was as mystic as her name. Indra, though kind, was always fearful of being usurped as the King of heavens especially by powerful rishis who could change the tide of fortune with their meditation. Once, out of his fear of the sages Nar and Narayana acquiring divine powers through meditation in Badrinath, he sent two beautiful apsaras to distract them. But, to his surprise instead of getting distracted, the sage created a beautiful apsara ‘Urvashi’ so beautiful that Indra’s apsaras were left matchless. Since, the sage created Urvashi by tapping his thigh, the alluring maiden was called Urvashi from ‘Ur’ that means thigh. Urvashi was later gifted to Indra by the sage after he finished his meditation. Within no time the celestial maiden became the pride of Indra's court. However she met King Pururavas, a King from Lunar dynasty and eloped with him.