01Shiva as a tiger
The temple’s katha, told from the Manaskhand of the Skanda Purana, is about Markandeya, who did tapas at this confluence. When the Sarayu, flowing down to Ayodhya, was held back by the rishi’s sitting place, Mata Parvati took the form of a cow and Shiva the form of a tiger. The tiger sprang at the cow, Markandeya rose to save her, and the river ran free. Shiva then gave darshan to the rishi. So the Lord here is Vyaghreshwar, the tiger-lord, which Kumaoni speech softened to Bagnath and Bageshwar.
02Uttarayani, 1921
The temple stands on the river bank, hung with bells of every size, and holds sculptures from roughly the 7th to the 16th century gathered from older shrines. Every Makar Sankranti the Uttarayani mela fills the ghats with traders, singers and pilgrims from all Kumaon. At the mela of January 1921, Badri Datt Pandey and other leaders asked the gathered villagers to give up coolie begar, the forced unpaid porterage owed to British officials. The headmen threw the begar registers into the Sarayu, and the practice ended soon after.
The life of this place
- January 1921At the Uttarayani mela the coolie begar registers are thrown into the Sarayu.
- 1996The state archaeology department takes over the temple’s care.
Bageshwar is about 90 km from Almora; the temple is in the town centre on the confluence. The Uttarayani mela falls in mid-January.
