I am in the Dehradun for the third down in a row. A surreal place besieged by the dense thicket and river Song flowing in ecstasy, Mal Devta is one of the popular tourist attractions of Dehradun. The calm surroundings and the gurgling sound of the river make this place a safe haven for Doonites who are awe-inspired by the magnetising beauty of Maldevta.
Dehradun is the capital of the Indian state of Uttarakhand, near the Himalayan foothills. The city of Dehradun mainly lies in Doon Valley and is at a varying height from 410 m (1,350 ft) in Clement Town to above 700 m (2,300 ft) at Malsi which is 15 km (9.3 mi) from the city. However, the average elevation is 600 m (2,000 ft) above sea level.[31] Malsi is the starting point of Lesser Himalayan Range that extends to Mussoorie and beyond. Jaunsar-Bawar hills in Dehradun district rises to 3,700 m (12,100 ft) above sea level. The hilly region of Mussoorie goes up to a height of 1,870–2,017 m (6,135–6,617 ft) above sea level. Its geomorphological and meteorological characteristics make it prone to a number of natural hazards. Beside earthquakes, the region is frequently devastated by landslides, cloudbursts, flash-floods, cold waves and hailstorms.
Source~~Wikipedia
"Dehradun is made up of two words "Dehra" + "Dun." Dehra is derived from the word "dera", meaning camp, and Dun or Doon in Garhwali language refers to a valley that lies between the middle Himalayas and the "Shivaliks"."
According to Hindu mythology, Varanasi was founded by Shiva,one of three principal deities along with Brahma and Vishnu. During a fight between Brahma and Shiva, one of Brahma's five heads was torn off by Shiva. As was the custom, the victor carried the slain adversary's head in his hand and let it hang down from his hand as an act of ignominy, and a sign of his own bravery. A bridle was also put into the mouth. Shiva thus dishonored Brahma's head, and kept it with him at all times. When he came to the city of Varanasi in this state, the hanging head of Brahma dropped from Shiva's hand and disappeared in the ground. Varanasi is therefore considered an extremely holy site.
Source~~Wikipedia
“Banaras(Kashi),looks “older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend and looks twice as old as all of them put together.”-Mark Twain ”
The Gwalior Fort (Gwāliiyar Qila) is a hill fort near Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India. The fort has existed at least since the 10th century, and the inscriptions and monuments found within what is now the fort campus indicate that it may have existed as early as the beginning of the 6th century. Raja Suraj Sen Pal and his dynasty ruled over more than 900 years. The fort has been controlled by a number of different rulers in its history. The present-day fort consists of a defensive structure and two main palaces, Gujari Mahal and Man Mandir, built by Man Singh Tomar (reigned 1486–1516 CE). The Gujari Mahal palace was built for Queen Mrignayani. It is now an archaeological museum. The second oldest record of "zero" in the world was found in a small temple (the stone inscription has the oldest record of the numeric zero symbol having a place value as in the modern decimal notation), which is located on the way to the top. The inscription is around 1500 years old.