Kalpeshwar

Coordinates: 30°34′37.35″N 79°25′22.49″E / 30.5770417°N 79.4229139°E / 30.5770417; 79.4229139
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Kalpeshwar Temple
Pandavas
(according to legend)
CompletedUnknown

Kalpeshwar (

Garhwal Himalayas.[1][2][3] Kalpeshwar is the only Panch Kedar temple accessible throughout the year. At this small stone temple, approached through a cave passage, the matted tress (jata) of Shiva is worshipped. Earlier it was approachable only by 12 km (7.5 mi) trek from the nearest road head of Helang on the Rishikesh-Badrinath road but now the road goes up to Devgram village from where the trek now is just 300 metres. The road is accessible to bicycles and small cars except in monsoons.[1]

Legend

A folk legend about Panch Kedar relates to the

Nandi
) and hid in the Garhwal region.

Not finding Shiva in Varanasi, the Pandavas went to

Garhwal Himalayas. Bhima, the second of the five Pandava brothers, then standing astride two mountains started to look for Shiva. He saw a bull grazing near Guptakashi (“hidden Kashi” — the name derived from the hiding act of Shiva). Bhima immediately recognized the bull to be Shiva. Bhima caught hold of the bull by its tail and hind legs. But the bull-formed Shiva disappeared into the ground to later reappear in parts, with the hump raising in Kedarnath, the arms appearing in Tungnath, the face showing up at Rudranath, the nabhi (navel) and stomach surfacing in Madhyamaheshwar and the hair appearing in Kalpeshwar. The Pandavas pleased with this reappearance in five different forms, built temples at the five places for venerating and worshipping Shiva. The Pandavas were thus freed from their sins.[4][5]

A variant of the tale credits Bhima of not only catching the bull, but also stopping it from disappearing. Consequently, the bull was torn asunder into five parts and appeared at five locations in the Kedar Khand of Garhwal region of the Himalayas.[4]

After completing the pilgrimage of Shiva's

darshan at the Panch Kedar Temples, it is an unwritten religious rite to worship Vishnu at the Badrinath Temple.[6]

Worship

The temple priests at this temple also are the Dasnamis and Gossains, disciples of

Dasnamis and Gosains.[7]

Geography

An evening view of snow peaks seen in Garhwal Himalayas
View of nanda devi Peak

The Kalpeshwar temple is located in the Urgam valley of the Himalayan mountain range near Urgam village (2 km (1.2 mi) short of the temple). On the bridle path from Helang to Kalpeshwar, the confluence of the Alaknanda and Kalpganga rivers is seen. Kalpganga river flows through the Urgam valley.[8][9] The Urgam valley is a dense forest area. The valley has apple orchards and terraced fields where potato is grown extensively.[10]

Access

Access to Kalpeshwar by road up to Urgam is from Rishikesh, a distance of 253 km (157.2 mi) on the Rishikesh-Badrinath road. The road is very rough and not suitable to normal cars, and should only be driven by skilled drivers. The nearest airport is at Jolly Grant, Dehradun, 272 km (169.0 mi) away and the nearest railhead, Rishikesh, is 255 km (158.4 mi) away.

Boodha Kedar temple surrounded by potato fields is seen on the trek route. Also seen is the Dhyan Badri temple at Urgam Village, one of the Sapt Badri (seven Badri) temples.[11]

Panch Kedar
Kedarnath
Tungnath
Rudranath
Madhyamaheshwar
Kalpeshwar

References

  1. ^ a b "Kalpeshwar". Shri Badrinath -Shri Kedarnath Temple Committee. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 17 July 2009.
  2. ISBN 978-81-7022-572-0. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help
    )
  3. ^ "Kalpeshwar: Panch Kedar- Travel Guide". chardhamyatra.org. Archived from the original on 12 February 2009. Retrieved 17 July 2009.
  4. ^ a b "Panch Kedar Yatra". Archived from the original on 24 May 2011. Retrieved 5 July 2009.
  5. ISBN 9788185880167
    .
  6. ^ "Panch Kedar". Archived from the original on 31 August 2009. Retrieved 15 July 2009.
  7. ISBN 978-81-7533-081-8
    .
  8. ^ "Sight seeing and Things to do in Kalpeshwar". Archived from the original on 20 June 2009. Retrieved 17 July 2009.
  9. ^ "Kalpeshwar". Archived from the original on 13 August 2007. Retrieved 17 July 2009.
  10. ^ "Trekking in India". Archived from the original on 2 May 2013. Retrieved 12 July 2009.
  11. ^ "Kalpeshwar temple". Archived from the original on 8 October 2011. Retrieved 17 July 2009.

External links

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