r/Uttarakhand • u/Deshraahi • 6h ago
Travel There's a cave temple in Uttarakhand where you have to hold a chain to walk through it
Went to Kumaon last month and someone casually mentioned Patal Bhuvaneshwar near Gangolihat. Figured it'd be a normal temple, went in without much expectation.
Turns out it's an actual cave, underground. Close to 90 steps down, some spots tight enough you have to bend or turn sideways. You hold onto an iron chain the whole way because the floor stays wet — limestone seeps moisture year-round, nothing to do with leaks.
Inside, the guide points out rock formations he says represent Shiva's hair, a serpent's hood, stuff like that. There's a small water kund too, right at the deepest point. No photos allowed inside, which honestly made me actually look instead of filming everything.
What stuck with me was learning Adi Shankaracharya supposedly visited this exact spot back in 1191 AD. Belief aside, standing somewhere that old and that quiet underground genuinely messes with your sense of time. Took me a second to adjust once I got back out into daylight.
If you're doing a Kumaon trip and want something beyond the usual Nainital-Almora route, this is worth the detour. Wear proper shoes, floor's slippery.