76 Abode of Gods
replaced by smoothness of the towering snowy peaks, A little ahead
is Rattakona from where Mana pass lies just above the Tara
Glacier, At Rattakona, vision becomes dulled and each step
becomes gasping and defiant due to airless heights. I made three
trips to this place at different times and seasons of the year,
The twin peaks of Kedarnath and Badrinath rise at a distance
of about ten miles apart, the former being 22853 ft, and the later
22,401 ft, above sea level. Perhaps nowhere do the snowy
summits appear grander than here, These places are visible from
a few miles down the valley of the Mandakini, the two sharp
peaks seem to pierce the very sky and the white battlements,
with their enormous slopes of smooth and shining snow tower
into the air in a wonderful manner. Travellers have dwelt
enthusiastically on the scene. At the pilgrims feet, edging the
beds of snow which the pilgrims have to traverse at intervals, grow
a profusion of pale rose coloured auriculas and yellow primroses
of delicious fragrance.
Strange sounds are also heard in that rarified atmosphere, the
effect probably of distant avalanches and rendings of the ice and
snows, but which superstition has fancied to be the voices of
the Gods, assembled for sport or council. This is the abode of
Gods,