Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 2.djvu/306

 Jumnotrī, 20,120. Jumnotrī itself, the source of the Jumna, is marked below in the map at the elevation of 10,849 feet.

At Jumnotrī the snow, which covers and conceals the stream, is about sixty yards wide, and is bounded to the right and left by mural precipices of granite; it is forty feet five and a half inches thick, and has fallen from the precipices above. In front, at the distance of about five hundred yards, part of the base of the Jumnotrī mountain rises abruptly, cased in snow and ice, and shutting up and totally terminating the head of this defile, in which the Jumna originates. Captain Hodgson says, "I was able to measure the thickness of the bed of snow over the stream very exactly, by means of a plumb-line let down through one of the holes in it, which are caused by the steam of a great number of boiling springs which are at the border of the Jumna." The range of springs, which are extensive, are in the dark recesses, and in the snow caverns. The following is related concerning the origin of these hot springs:—"The spirits of the Rikhs, or twelve holy men, who followed Mahadēo from Lunka to the Himalaya (after the usurpation of the tyrant Rawan), inhabit this rock, and continually worship him. Here the people bathe, the Brahmān says prayers, receives his dues, and marks the pilgrims with the sacred mud of the hot springs. The people, out of respect, put off their shoes long before they reach Jangotrī, and at this place there is no shelter for them during the night. Jumna prefers simple worship at the foot of her own and natural shrine, and has forbidden the erection of temples to her honour."

Noble rocks of varied hues and forms, crowned with luxuriantly dark foliage, and the stream foaming from rock to rock, form a fore-ground worthy of Jumnotrī. When Mahadēo retired from Lunka, disgusted with the rebellion of his son Rawan, the tyrant and usurper of Lunka, he formed Kylās, or the Himalaya range, for his retreat; and Soomeroo Purbat, or Roodroo Himālā, with its five peaks, rugged and inaccessible as it is, for his own dwelling. The Bhagiruttee and Alacknunda are there said to have sprung from the head of Mahadēo. Twelve holy Brahmāns, denominated the twelve Rikhs, left Lunka in search