Place · Shiva temple · India
Madhyamaheshwar
/məd̪ʱjəmaːheːʃʋəɾ/
Also known as Madmaheshwar, Madhyamaheshwar Temple, Madhya Maheshwar, Madmaheshwar Temple
A stone temple in a high valley below the Chaukhamba massif, where the navel or middle of Shiva's bull is said to have emerged. the name itself carries the anatomy. Reached by a steep walk from Ransi, it is among the quieter of the five shrines.
- Function
- Sacred site & pilgrimage
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 30.630, 79.220
Worth knowing
The temple is built in north Indian Nagara form with subsidiary shrines to Parvati and to the Saraswati. Water from here is regarded as having ritual potency and is carried away by pilgrims.
Connections (2)
- Traveller routeRansi
Ransi is the last village reachable by road on the way to Madhyamaheshwar, and the walk to the shrine begins there. It lies in the Mandakini catchment that also carries Kedarnath's pilgrims, which is why the two shrines are often combined in a single journey — though Madhyamaheshwar takes a fraction of the traffic and the path is much less made up.
- TransmissionUkhimath
When the high shrines close under snow, the deities of both Kedarnath and Madhyamaheshwar come down to Ukhimath, where the Omkareshwar temple holds them from Bhai Dooj to Akshaya Tritiya and the Rawal keeps his winter court. The town carries the ritual continuity of the whole circuit through the closed months, and it is where the administration of these shrines actually sits.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Madhyamaheshwar”. Archaeological Survey of India and State Archaeology monument records, and the standard regional literature.
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