In the Greater Himalayas of Uttarkashi, beside the rushing Bhagirathi, Gangotri is the second shrine of the Chota Char Dham and the most sacred abode of the goddess Ganga, near the place where India's holiest river begins its descent to the plains. Its legend, told in the Ramayana and the Puranas, recounts how King Bhagiratha performed severe penance to bring Ganga down from heaven to liberate the ashes of the sixty thousand sons of King Sagara; when her torrent threatened to shatter the earth, Lord Shiva received her in his matted locks and released her gently — and so the river, led down by Bhagiratha, is also called Bhagirathi.
Near the temple lies the submerged Bhagirath Shila, the rock where the king is said to have meditated and where Shiva gathered the descending river. The true glacial source, Gaumukh, lies some nineteen kilometres upstream at the snout of the Gangotri glacier.
The graceful white temple, built in the eighteenth century, honours Ganga as she who purifies all sins. Her evening aarti above the racing waters, and a vessel of Gangajal carried home from her source, are among the most cherished blessings of the Himalayan pilgrimage.
