Temples of Uttarakhand

The ASI protects the group as the 'Remains of Sixteen Temples': sixteen are believed to have stood here, and fourteen survive.

• Panch Badri

Answering the prayers of sages, Vishnu takes birth as Nar-Narayan and performs austerities at this place for the good of the world, to counter the demon Sahasrakavacha. Lakshmi becomes a badri, a plum tree, to shield…

• Char Dham
• 4 · Chota Char Dham
• Panch Badri

The temple committee records a belief about the end of the present age. When the Kali yuga reaches its height, the mountains called Jai and Vijay at Patmila, near Vishnuprayag, will collapse and Badrinath will become…

• Panch Badri

After Kurukshetra, Krishna advises the Pandavas to seek Shiva's blessing and atone for the battle. Shiva, angered by the bloodshed, avoids them by taking the form of a bull and going into the Himalayas. The Pandavas…

• 5 · Panch Kedar

After Kurukshetra, Krishna advises the Pandavas to seek Shiva's blessing and atone for the battle. Shiva, angered by the bloodshed, avoids them by taking the form of a bull and going into the Himalayas. The Pandavas…

• 3 · Panch Kedar

In the temple committee's account, Animath is the older seat of Badrinath's image: the idol was worshipped here before Badrinath became one of the four dhams. At the start of the Kali yuga Vishnu removed himself from…

• Panch Badri

Pandukeshwar is named after Pandu, father of the Pandavas. The temple committee's account places the region in an older geography called Panchaldesh, where Pandu married Kunti. A generation later, after ruling…

• Panch Badri

Nara and Narayana, two incarnations of Vishnu, perform penance in Bharata Khanda and worship Shiva every day in an earthen linga. Shiva, pleased after a long time, offers them a boon. They ask for nothing for…

• 11 · Dvadasa Jyotirlinga
• 3 · Chota Char Dham
• 1 · Panch Kedar

After Kurukshetra, Krishna advises the Pandavas to seek Shiva's blessing and atone for the battle. Shiva, angered by the bloodshed, avoids them by taking the form of a bull and going into the Himalayas. The Pandavas…

• 4 · Panch Kedar

After the Kurukshetra war the Pandavas seek Shiva's forgiveness. He avoids them and becomes a bull at Kedarnath; when they catch up he sinks into the ground. His hump remains at Kedarnath, and his other parts appear…

• 2 · Panch Kedar

King Bhagirath performs penance to bring the goddess Ganga down from heaven to earth. Her fall is too powerful for the earth to bear, and Shiva receives the river in his matted locks at this place. The rock beside…

• 2 · Chota Char Dham

The river Yamuna is held to be the sister of Yama, the god of death. Because of that bond, bathing in her waters is believed to grant salvation and to protect the bather from an untimely death. The shrine at…

• 1 · Chota Char Dham