Kilkileshwar Mahadev Temple

Kilkileshwar Mahadev Temple

Kilkileshwar has a prominent place among the five famous Shiva Siddhpeethas of Garhwal, Kilkileshwar, Kyunkaleshwar, Bindeshwar, Ekeshwar and Tadkeshwar. Situated on a huge rock on the banks of Alaknanda, just in front of Srinagar, this temple has been listening to the roar of Alaknanda for ages.

Like the Kamleshwar Temple located in Srinagar, the antiquity and recognition of the Kilkileshwar Temple Math is legendary. According to the description received from Kedarkhand Purana, during the Mahabharata period, Arjun had performed penance on Indrakeel mountain to obtain the Pashupat weapon. To test Arjun’s bravery, Lord Shiva took the form of Kirat (Bhil) and fought with Arjun. During the war, the sound of laughter of Shiva’s Kirat-like gang started echoing all around. Hence this place became famous by the name Kilkileshwar.

One name of Bhagirathi was Kirati, his main tributary was the Bhil kingdom in the middle region of Bhilangana (Bhil-Ganga) and Alaknanda and it is completely possible that Arjun might have had a conflict with the Bhils while hunting pigs on his arrival in Uttarakhand. The present temple is definitely a huge temple.  There are three more entrances to the sanctum sanctorum, west, south and north. Because there is a Nirman inscription on the top of the western entrance, hence it will be called the main entrance. Bhairavlinga is installed in the temple. Inside the main temple, a very beautiful wooden temple is built on eight wooden pillars around the eight inches high Shivalinga. The two and a half feet high four-armed idol of Lord Ganesha inside the temple is very beautiful. In the temple premises itself, there is a monument of about a thousand years of antiquity of a lion standing with its tail raised facing towards the east.