The Gangotri shrine overlooks the thundering River Bhagirathi and is set in the middle of rugged mountains at 9980 feet.Gangotri is the spiritual source of India’s holiest river,the Ganga.Here,Ganga is known as Bhagirathi,named after the ancient king Bhagirath,who performed penance to bring her down from the heavens.It is believed that bathing in her waters brings deliverance from sins committed in the present,and also all past,birts.The actual source of the river is the ice cave of Gaumkh.

According to legend,a Suryavanshi king Sagar decided to perform the Ashwamedh Yagna(Horse Sacrifice).His 60,000 sons were conquering territories that the horse crossed.Indra felt threatened by their success.He stole the horse and tied it in the Kapil Muni’s ashram.Sagar’s sons followed the horse into the ashram and were disrespectful to the peer,who cursed them,and all 60,000 of them were turned into ashes.The king beseeched the seer for forgiveness,but the curse could not be reversed.However,Kapil Muni suggested that if the holy Ganga,the river of heaven,were to come down to the earth,the touch of her waters would ensure the deliverance of the princes.Many descendants of Sagar failed in their efforts to bring the holy Ganga to earth,until Bhagirath was born.He persevered in his prayers until Ganga agreed to come down from the heavens,but such was her power that the descent to earth was sure to cause havoc.So Bhagirath prayed to Lord Shiva,who agreed to contain Ganga in his locks,from where he released a few drops of her celestial waters for the benefit of mankind.The river thus flowed on earth,cleansing all that was impure in her path,and delivering the sons of sagar from their curse.

The temple at Gangotri,believed to have been consecrated by Adi Shankaracharya,was built by General Amar Singh Thapa of the Nepalese forces in the 18th century.Made of white stone and about 20 feet high,it is situated on the left bank of Bhagirathi.The shrine is decorated with a glided roof and crowned with a central spire.The maharaja of Jaipur renovated the temple in 1935,near the temple is the Bhagirath Shila,a stone slab where King Bhagirath meditated.Goddess Ganga is the main deity in the temple,apart from her ,Yamuna,Shankar,Saraswatti,Annapurna and Mahadurga are worshipped here.

Hindus perform the ancestral rites of shraadh and pind daan for their ancestors here,for it is believed that to do so on the banks of Bhagirathi leads to deliverance of all the devotee’s forefathers,freeing the spirits from the cycle of rebirth.On reaching the shrine,piligrims offer prayers at the temple and bathe in the main ghat next to the river.Water is collected for use during auspicious occasions.Also,Ganga jal from Gangotri is traditionally offered at Kedarnath and Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu.

Major attractions in Gangotri-
A special shringar puja is performed on Ganga Saptami in Vaisakh(April),when Ganga is said to have descended down to earth.Ganga Dusshera,which celebrates the birth of Ganga as the day on which Lord Shiva offered Bhagirathi to King Bhagirath,is observed in Jyeshtha(May).A havan is performed near the riverbank.Apart from this,Janmashtami,Vijay Dashami and Diwali are also special days.