Historical Period19c CE
Ancient; current temple 19th c.
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Deities
Yamunā at Yamunotri
Yamunā — sister of Yama, the cleansing river
Yamunā — sister of Yama, the cleansing river
This entry honours the self-representation of Hindu tradition. India's sacred landscape includes hundreds of traditions beyond the Brahminical-Vedic canon. Each has its own cosmology, priesthood, ritual calendar, and relationship with the sacred landscape. Each deserves first-person recognition.
Yamunotri — 4th of the Chhota Char Dham — is the source-shrine of the Yamuna river, at 3,235m altitude. The shrine contains a silver mūrti of Yamunā. At the nearby Sūrya Kuṇḍ (hot spring, 88°C), pilgrims boil rice in cloth bags for prasadam. Mythologically: Yamunā is the daughter of Sūrya and twin-sister of Yama (Death). Bathing in Yamunā grants protection from untimely death. The shrine closes Nov–May; deity moves to Kharsali.
Om Yamunāyai Namaḥ
Drawn from scholarly ethnographies of Indian tribal and regional religions (Roy, Vidyarthi, Sinha, Fuchs, Sarkar, Sontheimer, Kinsley), colonial-era gazetteers, and contemporary community documentation.
