हिंदीOn this day
Standing

Siddhesvara Dham (Char Dham), Namchi

A pilgrimage complex on Solophok hill above Namchi, opened in 2011, with a giant seated Shiva and copies of the four dhams and twelve Jyotirlingas, so that the hill people of Sikkim can take the darshan of all Bharat in one place.

Built: Opened 2011, Government of SikkimWhere: Sikkim (Namchi district)Deity: Bhagwan Shiva as Kirateshwar, with copies of the Char Dham and the twelve Jyotirlingas27.16° N, 88.35° E
  1. November 2011
Photo: Nazmul Ahmed · CC BY-SA 4.0

01All of Bharat on a hill

Few in the Sikkim hills could travel to Badrinath, Puri, Rameswaram and Dwarka. The state built Siddhesvara Dham so that they could. A huge Shiva, seated and facing the Kanchenjunga range, rises over the hill, and around him stand replicas of the four dhams and the twelve Jyotirlinga temples, a Sai temple and a statue of Kirateshwar. Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati consecrated the complex in November 2011.

02Namchi’s two hills

Across the valley, on Samdruptse hill, stands a giant statue of Guru Padmasambhava, and Namchi has grown into a town of pilgrims for both traditions. Shivaratri and Shravan bring crowds from Sikkim, Darjeeling and Nepal to the Dham. Pilgrims walk the circuit of the replica shrines in order, Badrinath to Rameswaram, and many who will never travel to the plains take their Char Dham vow here, in the hills where they live.

The life of this place

  1. November 2011The Siddhesvara Dham is consecrated and opened.
Visiting

About 5 km from Namchi town and 80 km from Gangtok; clear mornings give views of Kanchenjunga.

Nearby

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Kirateshwar Mahadev Temple, Legship

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Independent Bharat

Hanuman Tok and Ganesh Tok, Gangtok

On two ridges above Gangtok, the Indian Army keeps a shrine of Hanuman and a tiny shrine of Ganesha. From Hanuman Tok, Kanchenjunga fills the northern sky.

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Vedic Rishis and the Itihasa

Bhramari Devi Temple (Trisrota Shakti Peetha), Jalpaiguri

Trisrota, the land of three streams, is where the Peetha Nirnaya Tantra places Sati’s left foot. Two places in the Teesta country claim it: the Bhramari Devi temple near Bodaganj in the Baikunthapur forest, and the Bhramari temple at Shalbari near Falakata.

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Jalpesh Temple, Jalpaiguri

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