Uttarakhand 123:
In Living Memory
of
Joan Margaret Legge
Feb. 21st 1885
July 4th 1939.
"I will lift up mine eyes upto the hills from whence cometh my
help."
The legend
The Himalayas are known as the abode of Gods and God-
desses, mention about which quite frequently occurs in the Vedas,
epics, ancient scriptures, and other Sanskrit literature. The Pan-
davas, particularly the Garhwal Himalayas which were then
known as Kedarkhand. In the annals of ancient classic Sanskrit
literature, Himalayas find most celeberated place, particularly in
the writings of Kalidasa who has vividly portrayed the beauties
of nature in most exquisitely ornamented terms—
In the north lieth
the king of mountains
Himalaya by name, the abode of
perpetual snows, and home of Gods and
Goddesses.
In the classical literature, Himalayas have been described as
the storehouse of life saving medicinal plants including sanjee-
vanbuti which grows in these parts, particularly over the Drona-
giri hills. When Lakshaman was lying unconscious at the battle-
field of Lanka, Hanuman took a whole chunk of Dronagiri hill
when he was unable to locate sunjeevanbuti. While Hanuman
was flying over Hemkund Lokpal, a few pieces of the bull fell over
the glacial lake where in memory of the incident a Lakshaman
temple exists which is frequented by the locals from the neigh-
bouring valleys at the time of Janmashtami.
An interesting story is related in Mahabharara about the dis.-
covery of the valley. It so happened that when once Draupadi was
taking bath at the confluence of Lakshamanganga and Alapnanda,
near Pandukeshwar, she saw a beautiful flower descending
down the stream. Draupadi picked it up and found that it
had exotic colours and exciting fragrance. Draupadi asked