Rudranath Temple

Getting there

• By air

  Nearest airport is Jolly Grant, Dehradun, about 258 km from Gopeshwar.

• By train

  Rishikesh is the nearest rail-head to Gopeshwar.

• By road

  Rudranath is on the Gopeshwar-Kedarnath road. A motorable road ends at Sagar village, and the rest of the way is on foot.

On the way

• The trek from Sagar to Rudranath is 20 km.
• The path runs through oak and rhododendron forests.
• Rudranath is sometimes considered the hardest Panch Kedar temple to reach.

Elderly visitors

• Sagar village is 219 km from Rishikesh, and it is the entry point for the trek.
• A motorable road ends at Sagar village, and the trek starts there.

Why devotees come here

Rudranath is a Shiva temple in the Garhwal Himalayas, in Chamoli district. It is the fourth temple on the Panch Kedar circuit. Shiva is worshipped here in his face form.

Rudranath is one of the Panch Kedar, five Shiva temples in the Garhwal region. Devotees worship Shiva here in his face form, called Ekanan. It is the fourth temple visited on the Panch Kedar pilgrimage circuit.

The legend says that after the Kurukshetra War, the Pandavas wanted to atone for killing their cousins, the Kauravas, so they went looking for Shiva. Shiva had hidden as a bull. His hump came up at Kedarnath, his arms at Tungnath, and his face at Rudranath. Bhima is said to have caught the bull by its tail before it sank into the ground.

The temple is believed to have been established by the Pandavas. It is a natural rock temple set in a dense forest of rhododendron and alpine pastures. The Vaitarani river, also called Rudraganga, flows near the temple. The temple has a grey stone idol of Rudranath.

Festivals

• Full moon of Sravan (July to August), mostly on RakshabandhanSravan full moon fair

  An annual fair at the temple, attended mainly by local people.

Tips for your visit

• Devotees come here to perform pind offerings for their ancestors.
• Several sacred tanks lie near the temple, including Surya-kund, Chandra-kund, Tara-kund and Mana-Kund.
• On the trek from Madhmaheshwar, Nandikund has old swords that devotees worship, believed to be those of the Pandavas.

Questions people ask