Gangotri Temple

According to the legend, King Sagar, after destroying the demons on earth, performed an Aswamedh Yagna inorder to declare his Supremacy. King’s 60,000 sons from Queen Sumati and one son Asamanjas from Queen Kesani were to accompany the Horse. Indra, Supreme ruler feared of the defeat of his supremacy if ‘Yagya’ succeeded, so took away the horse and tied it to the ashram of Sage Kapil,who was in deep meditation. The sons of the King came in search of the horse and found it near the meditating sage. Sixty Thousand angry sons of King Sagar stormed the ashram of sage Kapil. When he opened his eyes, the 60,000 sons were reduced to ashes except Asamanjas by the curse of sage Kapil. Bhagirath,the grandson of King sagar is believed to be meditated for 5500 years to please Goddess Ganga to cleanse the ashes of his ancestors and granting them Moksha.

As the legend goes, King Bhagirath used to worship Lord Shiva at the sacred stone, near which this 18th century temple is located. The slab on which King Bhagirath is believed to have meditated is called Bhagirathi Shila. Since it was due to the efforts of Bhagiratha that Ganga came down to earth, she spiritually became his daughter. Hence the river is also called by the name of Bhagirathi (Bhagiratha’s daughter).

Also Lord Shiva was very happy with King Bhagiratha’s penance and took Ganga in his matted hair before she came down to earth. This supposedly broke her pride of being a celestial river and instilled a sense of helping humanity in her. It was then negotiated that Goddess Uma or Parvati, Shiva’s wife, would have her daily bath in the Ganges and only then would she descend on the earth.

According to another legend, Pandavas performed the great ‘Deva Yagna’ here to atone the deaths of their kinsmen in the epic battle of Mahabharata.