Before your Bus screeches to halt at Devprayag Bus stand from Rishikesh, 200
meters before on the left, you will climb a hill for about 10/15 minutes to arrive (depends on how young you are)
at the Library gates and a charming house overlooking 3 sides of mountains. This
is family house of Dr. Prabhakar Joshi, a journalist for few publications like
Dehradun Amar Ujala, and Hindustan Hindi who will be waiting for you with a hot cup of
tea. A very respected town resident. A mild man, thorough gentle.
This is the house which Acharya Pundit Chakradhar Joshi (a
scholar in Astronomy and Astrology) built, who established Nakshatra Vedshala
(an observatory) in the year 1946. The observatory is equipped with two
telescopes and hundreds of books to support research in astronomy. It also
contains about 3000 manuscripts from 1677 AD onwards collected from various
parts of country. Apart from the latest equipment, it also has the ancient
equipments like Surya Ghati, Jal Ghati and Dhruv Ghati which showcase the pride
of ancient Indian progress in the field of astronomy. Dr. Prabhakar Joshi and
Acharya Shri Bhaskar Joshi (known as Guruji) are currently in charge and
caretakers of the place. Here you can see one original manuscript of Ramayana,
hand-written request letters to provide medicine from former Prime Minister
Morarjee Desai and film actress Asha Parekh.
Dr Prabhakar Joshi, the current chief caretaker, (ph.
9411144392, 01378 266040) can be seen here in the photograph (on left) iside his
Library; which needs strong support of individuals, corporations, institutions
and the Government. I wish some benovelent soul can gift them few modern storage and glass-cupboards
for books to keep and protect from insects and climate. Any advice or
assistance will be most welcome. Research scholars are welcome to study the
treasure lying there. It would be a great opportunity for a TV station to make
a 30 minutes eye-opening documentary for national viewing. Visitors even after
huffing and puffing to climb for 15 minutes will not regret, the coming down is
easy only 5 minutes. Beware of a village house in midway with their dog.
