Tirtha Atlas

The sacred geography of the Indic world — every site mapped, dated, storied, and cited.

3031 sites15 countries4 traditions30 centuries
High medieval · Hindu · India

Neelkanth Mahadev Temple

Pauri Garhwal district, Uttarakhand · 30.0807°, 78.3409°

Neelkanth (Shiva)UndeterminedDravidian
Sacred since
1000 CE
first attestation / structure
Standing structure
dating unrecorded
Undetermined

History & significance

A Shiva temple in the Garhwal hills about 32 km from Rishikesh whose shikhara is built in a tiered pyramidal Pandya manner unusual for the region, credited to a sadhu named Mekh Chand. Fairs are held at Maha Shivaratri and Shraavana Shivaratri, when kanwariyas walk up from Haridwar.

Sthala katha — the traditional account

What follows is the temple’s own traditional account, transmitted through liturgy and local memory. It is recorded here as tradition, not as attested history.

The site is held to be where Shiva swallowed the Halahala poison churned up from the ocean at the Samudra Manthan, which turned his throat blue.

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Sources

coordinates: wikipedia-2026-08-27 · sources retrieved 2026-08-26 · dynasty page: Undetermined