A visit to Koteshwar Mahadev temple in Uttrakahand during March, 2025

Photo copyright © Satyabrata Maiti

I was planning to visit Uttrakhand for few years when Rhododendrons flower. I fall in love with Rhododendron since I joined ICAR-North Eastern Hill Complex in Shillong in 1977. I saw a book of this genus at Botanical Survey of India, Shillong campus  and photographs of the flowers hypnotised me instantly.  Although I got some opportunity to supervise research work  on this flower as Project Coordinator of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants  in Barsar center,  Uttarakhand, but full spectrum of its beauty was still remained unrevealed to me.   Somehow my visit to Uttrakhand during the full bloom of Rhododendron was not materializing. I never wanted to miss it this year and with the support of my guide, Deewan Singh from Sari village, I could make it possible. When I revealed my plan to my co-trekker, Dr. Geetha, she  also instantly agreed to my proposal for this this long-awaited  dream trip. With Deewan-ji, we planned to visit Kartik swami trek, Thunganath trek and also Rohini Bugiyal trek for Rhododendrons during flowering.

However, in this blog, I am sharing my experience of visiting Koteshwar temple during the trek, and the Rhododendron experience will be shared soon.

I reached Delhi on 20-March-2025 morning from Anand and Dr. Geetha joined me there and we reached Haridwar by afternoon.

On 21-March-2025, our driver-cum-guide, Pradeep came with his Jimny Maruti vehicle and we left Haridwar at 8:30 am. We had our breakfast in a newly opened “Rasoi Dhaba” just in the outskirt of Haridwar at 9:15 am. Thereafter, we started our journey and reached Koteshwar Mahadev temple at about 3:50 pm via Rishikesh (10:00 am), Devaprayag (12:30 pm), Srinagar (1:20 pm), Dhari Ma temple (1:45 pm) and Rudraprayag (3:00 pm).  The temple is only 1.0 km trekking distance from the road head.

About the Temple:

Koteshwar Mahadev Temple (Devanagari: कोटेश्वर महादेव) is a Hindu temple dedicated to lord Shiva, and is located approximately 3 kilometres (3,000 m) from the centre of the Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand.

Koteshwar Mahadev Temple is located in a cave with the Alakananda flowing just few meters away. Legends believe that Lord Shiva meditated in the cave while he was on his way to Kedarnath. Pilgrims from far away places visit Koteshwar temple to take blessings of Lord Shiva. As per another mythological interpretation, when devil Bhasmasura (who got the boon from God Shiva to turn anyone to ashes by touching their head) was trying to test his power on Lord Shiva who ran away from the devil and meditated at Koteshwar cave for lord Vishnu’s intervention. After that Lord Vishnu killed the devil Bhasmasura in Mohini avatar.

The temple beholds a majestic aura with holy river Alaknanda kissing the stairs of the shrine.

One can enjoy the sight of water seeping through the crevasses of the rocky cave, smearing the Shivalinga. The beauty of the spellbinding surrounding of this place is,  the view of Alaknanda majestically flowing amidst the two gigantic mountainous landscapes.

This was my second visit to this temple. We specifically came once again since during our last visit, the scenic beauty that we photographed did not satisfy us fully. We visited the cave temple and photographed the surroundings with full satisfaction and returned to road head by 5:00 pm. After having tea, we started towards Kanakchori for our night stay. We reached the Mountain homestay at 7:00 pm and our journey to Kartik swami trek would start tomorrow at 4:30 am from there.

Jai Bharat!

Satyabrata Maiti

Acknowledgement

My sincere thanks to:

1. Dr. Geetha for her company and also improving the manuscript with her editorial skill

2. Pradeep for driving us to the temple site.

References

1. Wikipedia

2. Other online literatures