During our visit to Binsar, we also planned a day trip to Jageshwar. I had heard a lot about the group of 125 temples and Jageshwar weather. Jageshwar Mahadev temple is surrounded by deodar woods and hence current jageshwar temperature was pleasant. During planning we also planned to find a Jageshwar hotel to spend a night there, but later things changed and we decided to stay at KMVN Binsar which is inside the Wildlife Sanctuary.
Jageshwar Temple is one of the 12 Jyotirlings and this whole campus has 125 temples. The complex is surrounded by deodar trees on one side and a small village on other side. Over a period of time, lot of shops are built around Jageshwar Mahadev temple.
As you drive from Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary, you cross from pine forests and then suddenly a cut comes of your way, which takes your down on the left. As you move 500 meters on this narrow road, Deodar forest starts. This is when you feel a huge difference in landscapes of Binsar and Jageshwar. There are rare places in Kumaun with deodar forestation.
We noticed few guest-houses around the temple complex. KMVN hotel is always there in Jageshwar and it's near to the temples. If you like trekking and exploring the lesser know place, you can plan to stay here for a night. NO one would be able to offer you any itinerary, but walking & trekking around these deodar trees would be fun. During day time, it can a bit hot as compared to Binsar but in the middle of the forest, that would not be the case. Check out more reviews by folks who stayed at Jageshwar and take the final call.
As you move out form the temple complex, there is an ASI museum on road-side. We stepped into the museum and it was awesome. The rock cut creations kept in this museum are amazing. These idols don't match with the quality of temples. We felt great to see that ASI has preserved some of the best work from the past. If you are in Jageshwar, I would highly recommend you to take a quick look at this Museum and then you can decide, how much time you want to spend there.
We were at Jageshwar during lunch time. We had a round of the market and found various places to eat which offer piranhas, poori, thalis etc. We chose one of the dramas near temple which offered thali. Food was ok but slightly overpriced w.r.t. Quality served. It was 70 Rs thali with rice, roti, a dal, a veg & raita. I would recommend to have some packed with you or find a good place on your way.
As you drive from Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary, you cross from pine forests and then suddenly a cut comes of your way, which takes your down on the left. As you move 500 meters on this narrow road, Deodar forest starts. This is when you feel a huge difference in landscapes of Binsar and Jageshwar. There are rare places in Kumaun with deodar forestation.
We noticed few guest-houses around the temple complex. KMVN hotel is always there in Jageshwar and it's near to the temples. If you like trekking and exploring the lesser know place, you can plan to stay here for a night. NO one would be able to offer you any itinerary, but walking & trekking around these deodar trees would be fun. During day time, it can a bit hot as compared to Binsar but in the middle of the forest, that would not be the case. Check out more reviews by folks who stayed at Jageshwar and take the final call.
As you move out form the temple complex, there is an ASI museum on road-side. We stepped into the museum and it was awesome. The rock cut creations kept in this museum are amazing. These idols don't match with the quality of temples. We felt great to see that ASI has preserved some of the best work from the past. If you are in Jageshwar, I would highly recommend you to take a quick look at this Museum and then you can decide, how much time you want to spend there.
Above photograph shows the road which goes to Jageshwar Mahadev Temples.
There is a huge hawan-kund in this campus where families can plan pooja. From the whole setup it seemed like a pre-booked setup and another revenue generation stream for the temple. At Jageshwar you would see kids sitting in smaller temples and greet you with smile. If you avoid entering into their temples, they would pass some comments. It was interesting to hear the conversations of these kids. Most of the them were about money & money :). It seemed like each family has acquired a temple in this complex and try to make money out of it. In main temples you would enter in three stages. You would find a priest sitting at gate, who would tie a mauli around your wrist and then indicate to put some money in front of the idol.
Interestingly we noticed that Jageshwar temple complex has two groups and both of them tell you about 2 different temples as main temple in this complex. All these things were not very important for us, but it was sad to know these things. The gentleman in above photograph is making pudiya of holy ashes and you can very well guess the real goal.
There is another small temple complex on road side when you go towards Jageshwar. We didn't stop here, but it looked more serene and peaceful.
It was a good ride from Binsar to Jagwshwar and back to KMVN Binsar via Almora.
More about Jageshwar by fellow Travel Blogger -
Jageshwar Dham Temple in Uttarakhand by Shubham Mansingka
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