Gangotri is a town and a ''

Nagar Panchayat A nagar panchayat (town panchayat; ) or Notified Area Council (NAC) in India is a settlement in transition from rural to urban and therefore a form of an urban political unit comparable to a municipality. An urban centre with more than 12,000 ...

'' (municipality) in

Uttarkashi district Uttarkashi District is a district of Garhwal division of the Uttarakhand state in northern India, and has its headquarters at Uttarkashi city. It has six Tehsils namely Barkot, Dunda, Bhatwadi, Chinyalisaur, Purola and Mori. The district conta ...

in the state of

Uttarakhand, India Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...

. It is 99 km from

Uttarkashi Uttarkashi, meaning Varanasi, Kashi of the north, is a town located in Uttarkashi district in Uttarakhand, India. Uttarkashi town is headquarters of the district. Uttarkashi is also known as Somya Kashi. Uttarkashi is a religious place for spir ...

, the main district headquarter. It is a

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

pilgrim town on the banks of the river

Bhagirathi The Bhāgīrathī (Pron: /ˌbʌgɪˈɹɑːθɪ/) is a turbulent Himalayan river in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, and one of the two headstreams of the Ganges, the major river of Northern India and the holy river of Hinduism. In the Hind ...

– the origin of the

river Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

. The town is located on the Greater

Himalayan Range The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

, at a height of . According to popular Hindu legend, Goddess Ganga descended here when

Lord Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

released the mighty river from the locks of his hair. Gangotri (ganga river)

Gangotri significance

Gangotri is one of the four sites in the

Chota Char Dham The Chota Char Dham (literally translated as 'the small four abodes/seats', meaning 'the small circuit of four abodes/seats'), is an important Hindu pilgrimage circuit in Uttarakhand, in the Indian Himalayas. Located in the Garhwal region ...

pilgrimage circuit. It is also the origin of the Ganges river and seat of the goddess Ganga. The river is called Bhagirathi at the source and acquires the name ''Ganga'' (the Ganges) from

Devprayag Devprayag (Deva prayāga) is a town and a nagar panchayat, near New Tehri, New Tehri city in Tehri Garhwal district, Tehri Garhwal District in the state of Uttarakhand, India, and is the final one of the Panch Prayag (five confluences) of Alak ...

onwards where it meets the

Alaknanda The Alaknanda is a Himalayan river in the Indian state of Uttarakhand and one of the two headstreams of the Ganges, the major river of Northern India and the holy river of Hinduism. In hydrology, the Alaknanda is considered the source ...

. The origin of the holy river is at

Gaumukh Gomukh, also known as "Gaumukh" or "Gomukhi" (Hindi: गौमुख or गौमुखी ; Assamese and Bengali: গোমুখ or গোমুখী), is the terminus or pout of the Gangotri Glacier and the source of the Bhagirathi River, on ...

, set in the

Gangotri Glacier Gangotri (Sanskrit and hi, गंगोत्री) is located in Uttarkashi District, Uttarakhand, India in a region bordering Tibet. This glacier, one of the primary sources of the Ganges, has a volume of over 27 cubic kilometers. The glaci ...

, and is a 19 km trek from Gangotri. The original Gangotri Temple was built by the Nepalese general

Amar Singh Thapa Amar Singh Thapa Chhetri distinguished as Badakaji Amar Singh Thapa( ne, बडाकाजी अमर सिंह थापा क्षेत्री), or Amar Singh Thapa The Elder, (also spelled Ambar Simha) also known by the honorific nam ...

. The temple is closed from Diwali day every year and is reopened on Akshaya Tritiya. During this time, the idol of the goddess is kept at

Mukhba Mukhba is a small village near the Gangotri Temple in Harsil, Uttarakhand, India, that hosts the idol of Goddess Ganga during winters, after it is brought down in a ritual ceremony from the temple, some nine miles away, as it becomes inaccessible ...

village, near

Harsil Harsil, the Himalayan paradise, is a village, tourist hill station and army area located on the banks of the Bhagirathi River, on the way to Gangotri, a Hindu pilgrimage site in Uttarkashi district of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. Situated ...

. Ritual duties of the temple are supervised by the Semwal family of pujaris. These pujaris hail from Mukhba village. File:Gomukh the source of Ganga.jpg,

, source of the Ganges above Gangotri File:Brahma Kamal.jpg, Brahma Kamal Saussurea obvallata.

Gangotri Temple

A temple dedicated to Goddess Ganga is located near a sacred stone where King Bhagiratha worshipped

. According to Hindu culture, Goddess Ganga took the form of a river to absolve the sins of King Bhagiratha's predecessors, following his severe penance of several centuries. Bhagiratha Shila is a sacred slab where king Bhagiratha meditated. Ganga is believed to have touched earth at this spot. According to another legend,

Pandavas The Pandavas (Sanskrit: पाण्डव, IAST: Pāṇḍava) refers to the five legendary brothers— Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva—who are the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. They are acknowledge ...

performed the great ‘Deva Yagna‘ here to atone the deaths of their kinsmen in the epic battle of

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the s ...

. Hindus believe that performing the ancestral rites on the banks of Bhagirathi frees the spirit of the ancestor from the cycle of rebirth and a holy dip in its waters cleanses sins committed in the present also past births. The Gangotri temple opens on the auspicious day of Akshaya Tritiya which falls in the month of May and closes on

Yama Dwitiya Bhai Dooj, Bhaubeej, Bhai Tika, Bhai Phonta or Bhratri Dwitiya is a festival celebrated by Hindus on the second lunar day of the Shukla Paksha (bright fortnight) of Kartika, the eighth month of the Vikram Samvat Hindu calendar or the Shalivahana ...

Bhai Dooj Bhai Dooj, Bhaubeej, Bhai Tika, Bhai Phonta or Bhratri Dwitiya is a festival celebrated by Hindus on the second lunar day of the Shukla Paksha (bright fortnight) of Kartika, the eighth month of the Vikram Samvat Hindu calendar or the Shalivahan ...

which falls in the month of November. The Gangotri temple remains closed for the rest of six months. The Goddess shifts to the village

during the winter months. In the month of May,

Ganga Dussehra Ganga Dussehra, also known as Gangavataran, is a Hindu festival celebrating the ''avatarana'' (descent) of the Ganges. It is believed by Hindus that the holy river Ganges descended from heaven to earth on this day. Ganga Dussehra takes place on ...

is celebrated with great fanfare as the day of the birth of Ganga.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census of India, there are total 47 families residing in Gangotri. The total population of Gangotri is 110 out of which 97 are males and 13 are females. The literacy rate of Gangotri is 99.1%. The entire population of Gangotri identifies as Hindu.

References

External Links

* * {{Uttarakhand Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2001 All articles containing potentially dated statements Cities and towns in Uttarkashi district Hindu pilgrimage sites in India Hindu temples in Uttarakhand Chota Char Dham temples Tourism in Uttarakhand Hindu holy cities Ganges

Gangotri significance

Gangotri Temple

Demographics

See also

References

External Links