Ancient Shiva temple Kalp Kedar buried under debris in Uttarakhand floods

The ancient Kalp Kedar Shiva temple in Uttarkashi, discovered in 1945 and known for its Kedarnath-style architecture, has been buried again under debris following flash floods in the Kheer Ganga river. Rescue teams are assessing the damage.

Uttarkashi: The ancient Kalp Kedar temple here was buried in the debris brought over by the flash flood in the Kheer Ganga river. The temple remained buried underground for many years, possibly due to a previous disaster, with only its tip visible above ground.

Built in the Kature style, the architecture of the Shiva temple is similar to that of Kedarnath Dham. An excavation led to its discovery in 1945. After digging several feet underground, an ancient Shiva temple was found whose structure was similar to the Kedarnath temple.

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The temple was below the ground level, and devotees had to go down to offer prayers in the temple. People say that some water from the Kheer Ganga would often drift onto the ‘Shivling’ installed in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, and a path had been created for it. There are stone carvings outside the temple.

The ‘shivling’ of the sanctum sanctorum is shaped like the back of Nandi, just like in the Kedarnath temple.