Jāgeśwar

The temple group in a deodar forest at 1,870m in Almora district, Uttarakhand — one of the densest clusters of early stone temples in the Indian Himalayas, with 124 small shrines built between the 7th and 12th centuries CE under the Katyuri dynasty (7-11 c.) and the subsequent Chand kings. The main Jageshwar jyotirlinga is identified in some texts as one of the twelve Shiva Jyotirlingas (alternative to Nageshwar at Dvarka). The site's unique concentration — temples ranging from 1 metre to 20 metres in height, in a single wooded valley — makes it an architectural laboratory of early Kumaoni temple building. The temple's Nagara-style stone shikharas with amalaka crowns are the model for later Garhwali temples.