Kankhal

Three miles southwest of Hardwar, Kankhal has a long history of its own. Its most famous story is a pivotal event in Shiva's mythology. Shiva's father-in-law Daksha sponsored a great sacrifice, but snubbed Shiva by not inviting him (note--disrespecting the Supreme Being is inadvisable). Shiva wasn't bothered by this, but when his wife Sati--who was also Daksha's daughter--asked why there was no place for her husband, her father responded with a public tirade about what a worthless man she had married. Enraged and mortified, Sati died--either by jumping into the sacrificial fire, or through generating internal yogic fire.

At that point Shiva got upset. He sent his minions to destroy the sacrifice, and Daksha was beheaded. He was later brought back to life (with the head of a goat), begged Shiva's forgiveness, and asked him to remain at that place. The temple is thus named Daksheshvar, "Daksha's Lord."

The present temple dates from 1961 (shortly after independence), and the earlier one was much more modest. The earliest English visitor in 1787 mentions only a giant banyan tree--though probably not the one now found on the temple grounds. Statues and posters on site refer back to the site's charter myth.

Near the Daksha temple is the ashram of the Bengali mystic Anandamayi Ma ("Mother of Bliss," d. 1984). The town also has a historic Sikh Gurudwara attributed to the third guru, Amar Das.