Kalpeshwar is an ancient and important Hindu temple, located at an elevation of 2,200 m (7,217.8 ft) in the beautiful Urgam valley, which is in the Garhwal Himalayas of Chamoli District of Uttarakhand state in India. It is one of the five temples of Panchkedar group, dedicated to Lord Shiva. In this temple Lord Shiva is worshipped in the form of Jatas(Hair locks).
Architecture:
The present temple’s entire structure is built of granite stones obtained from the same mountains on which the temple is present. This temple is built in the Nagara architectural style.
Mythology of Kalpeshwar Temple:
According to the mythology when Pandvas and Kauravas fought Kurukshetra war, many of their friends and relatives were killed. Then they wanted the divine pardon from Lord Shiva but Lord Shiva didn’t want to meet them because of the the war and killings. So Lord Shiva went incognito and transformed himself into a form of bull.
The bull vanished underground and went to Guptakashi. Subsequently, it reappeared in five different forms in five different places: His hump appeared at Kedarnath, his bahu(arm) was appeared at Tungnath, his head appeared at Rudranath, the stomach and navel were appeared at Madhyamaheswar and his jata(Hair locks) were spotted at Kalpeshwar. Pandvas built temples at every place to worship Lord Shiva.
How to reach Kalpeshwar:
By Road
Kalpeshwar temple trek starts from Urgam village which is well connected to all major cities of Uttarakhand. You can get a taxi to Urgam from major cities.
By Train
Haridwar is the nearest railway station, which is located 271 Kms from Joshimath. You may hire a taxi from Rishikesh to Joshimath or Urgam village.
By Air
The nearest Airport is the Jolly Grant Airport (Dehradun). which is located at a distance of 268 kms from Kalpeshwar. Taxis or buses are available to Joshimath and Urgam village, from Urgam the trek to Kalpeshwar starts.