Visits to Kalimath-one of the Shakti Peeths and Triyuginarayan Temple  in Uttrakhand during March, 2025

Photo copyright © Satyabrata Maiti

In continuation from……..

Visit to Lord Kartik Swami Temple in Uttrakhand in March, 2025

I heard about Triyuginarayan Temple from Dr. Geetha when we visited Kedernath Temple in 2019. We even planned to visit the temple while returning from Kedarnath. But it did not materialize some how because of many reasons or God did not plan the visit for us at that time. Therefore, for her,  I put this visit in our recent Travel Plan to Uttarakhand. As I have mentioned in the previous blog, we reached Sari village after visiting Kartik Swami temple for our night stay. On 23-Mar-2025, we started at 8:10 am from Sari after taking breakfast with Pradeep and Deewan-ji. Deewan-ji suggested us  to visit a Shakti Peeth, Kalimath before going to  Triyuginarayan Temple. Accordingly, we started our journey and had some breathtaking photographs of Himalayan peaks from Kimana near Ukhimath and reached Kalimath temple by 9:35 am.

Kalimath is a religious place located on the bank  of Saraswati river at an altitude of 1,800 m (6,000 feet) in  Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand, which is a revered spiritual destination, known for its ancient temple dedicated to Goddess Kali. Kalimath attracts a large number of devotees, especially during the sacred occasion of Navratri.

The temple is uniquely seated on the banks of holy river, Saraswati which is about   around 1800 meters above the sea level.  The temple is beautifully placed amidst the lap of nature and offers a cool, decent and divine environment to its devotees. It is believed to be one of the most visited temples in Garhwal region and is counted among one of the 108 Shakti Peeths located in India. The lower part of Goddess Kali is being worshipped in this shrine whereas her upper parts are worshipped at Dhari Devi Temple which is another sacred shrine dedicated to goddess Kali situated between Srinagar and Rudraprayag (I mentioned about this temple in my previous blogs).

Some of the famous Hindu legends described that it  is the same place where Mother Goddess killed the demon Rakt Beej and she disappeared underneath the ground .   A silver Sri Yantra plate has been placed above the place where the Goddess was disappeared and another Sree Chakra (Meru chakra) is placed below ground.

Temples for Goddess Maha Lakshmi, Saraswati, Gauri Shankar and many unique Shivalings , Nandi, Ganesha,  etc., are also present within the Kali temple premises where devotees pay their homage and seek blessings. A perpetual fire is burnt in the Maha Lakshmi temple. Visiting this divine temple during Navratri gives you a special experience as this festival is celebrated in a grand way in the whole area.

The temple is known for its unique rituals, particularly the annual puja on 8^th day of Navratri, which takes place at midnight with only the chief priest present. During this sacred puja, the Sri Chakra (Meru chakra) is taken out and worshipped, adding to the temple’s mystique and sacredness. The Sri Yantra, an ancient symbol representing the divine energy of the goddess, is worshipped here, reflecting the temple’s deep connection to the spiritual and cosmic realms.

The Village is also believed to be the birth place of Kalidas.

We started back from the  temple by 10:40 am and reached Triyuginarayan Temple via Guptakashi at 1:15 pm.

Triyuginarayan Temple   (त्रियुगी-नारायण) is a Hindu temple   located in the Triyuginarayan village of Rudraprayag in  Uttarakhand,   India. It is located at an altitude of 1,980 metres (6,500 ft) about 5 kilometres away from Sonprayag, the confluence of Mandakini and Songanga rivers.

The ancient temple is dedicated to god Vishnu. However, the  fame of this temple  is credited to being celestial marriage venue of  Lord Shiva and goddess Parvathi solemnised  when God Vishnu  acted as Parvati’s brother while the creator-god Brahma  acted as the priest of the wedding. The Holy marriage was witnessed by all the sages of the times  in the Satya Yuga.  It  is thus a popular Hindu pilgrimage site and also a part of Abhimana Kshethram temples.  A special feature of this temple is a perpetual fire in “Havana-Kunda”, that burns in front of the temple. The flame is believed to be in continuity from the times of the divine marriage. In ancient times this fire was used to be self-igniting but in Kaliyug it is kept burning continuously by the Jamloki Brahmins of Kedarghati. Jamloki brahmins are also the chief worshipper of the Triyuginarayan temple. Thus, the temple is also known as Akhand Dhuni temple. Devotees often take the ashes from Havana-kund which  is believed to promote conjugal bliss.

The exact location of the wedding is marked by a stone called Brahma Shila, in front of the temple. There are three kunds or small ponds namely, Rudra-kund, Vishnu-kund and Brahma-kund. The inflows into the three kunds are from  the Saraswati-kund, which is, according to legend, originated from Vishnu’s navel. Hence, the water of these kunds is considered to cure infertility.

The Triyuginarayan temple resembles the Kedarnath and Badrinath temples  in architectural style and hence attracts a lot of devotees. It is believed to have been built by Adi Shankaracharya who is credited with building many temples in the Uttarakhand region. The shrine houses a silver, 2-foot image of God Vishnu (Narayana), accompanied with  goddess Lakshmi and Saraswati.

After the Darsan, we had our lunch in a nearby hotel and started our return journey at 2:40 pm via  Guptakashi (4:30 pm) and reached back to Sari village home stay at 5:50 pm. I felt a fulfilment of capturing some stunning beautiful photographs of Himalayan peaks and temple architectures with an additional satisfaction of fulfilling Dr. Geetha’s long cherished desire of visiting Triyuginarayan temple. This visit also reminds me to ponder upon the great philosophy narrated by a great Bengali writer, Shri Shivaram Chakroborty “মনের গুনেই ধন মেলে, কখনো ও বা কল্পনার কল্পলোকে। কখনো অকল্পনীয়  ভাবে , জীবনের এই বাস্তবে ।” (Meaning: We get the treasure through our mind, sometime in our imagination, sometime unexpectedly and sometime in reality of life.)

(To be continued…….)

Jai Bharat!

Satyabrata Maiti

Acknowledgement

My sincere thanks to:

1. Geetha for her company during the trekking.
2. Pradeep and Deewan Singh for driving and guiding us to the temple sites.

References

1. Wikipedia
2. Other online information