Shankaracharya Temple

Getting there

• By road

  The temple is reached by a road that leaves Boulevard road near Gagribal. A 5.6 km road was built to the temple by the Border Roads Organisation in 1969.

Why devotees come here

Shankaracharya Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva, on the Zabarwan Range above Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir. It stands about 1,000 feet above the valley floor and overlooks the city of Srinagar. It is also called Jyeshteshwara Temple.

Kashmiri Hindus strongly believe that Adi Shankara visited the temple, and the temple has been associated with him ever since. This is how the temple and the hill got the name Shankaracharya. One account says the name dates to the ninth century, when Adi Shankaracharya made the hill his place of meditation. Legend says the Saundarya Lahari was composed here.

Kalhana says King Gopaditya built the temple on the hilltop as a shrine to Shiva as Jyesthesvara, around 371 BCE. There is no agreed date for its construction. In 1899 James Fergusson placed it in the 17th to 18th century. Since the 19th century, the Dharmarth Trust has looked after the temple, together with other bodies in the region.

The temple rests on solid rock, and a 20 ft octagonal base supports a square building. Inside, four octagonal columns surround a lingam, and a snake encircles it. The inner chamber is small and dark. Pilgrims visit during the Amarnath Yatra, and Kashmiri Hindus come on festival days such as Herath.

Festivals

• Maha ShivaratriHerath (Maha Shivaratri)

  Kashmiri Hindus visit the temple on this festival, and the temple is lit up for it.

• Shravan AmavasyaHaryali Amavasya

  The holy mace, Chhari Mubarak, is brought here for prayers, linked to the Amarnath yatra. The mace then goes on to Sharika Bhawani temple at Hari Parbat in downtown Srinagar the next day.

Tips for your visit

• The climb is demanding, but a visitor found the view of the city from the top worth the effort.
• A visitor at dawn spent 15 minutes meditating in the sanctum.

Questions people ask