Gopeshwar: Mirror of the Art of Uttarakhand (Himalaya)

Gopeshwar has played an important role in the History of Uttarakhand particularly Garhwal Himalaya. The place is located at a distance of about 10 km. from Chamoli on Rishikesh-Badrinath motorable road. Being located in the middle of the holy shrine of Kedarnath and Badrinath, Gopeshwar enjoys the reputation of being a halting point of pilgrimages from time immemorial. The place has the privilege of having an inscribed iron trident set-up by Ganapati-Nag in honour of Rudra (Siva) in sixth century AD and a tallest Nagra Shikhara temple assignable to eighth ninth century AD built by the Katyuri of Central Himalaya. The sculptural evidence suggest that art activity started at Gopeshwar sometime in fifth-sixth century AD in its initial stage inspired by the Gupta art traditions of Central India, subsequently developed in its own style during ninth-tenth century AD and began to decline from twelfth century A.D. Hence, Gopeshwar served as mirror of art of Uttarakhand Himalaya.

In this book an attempt has been made to highlight the different phases of art activities at Gopeshwar along with the illustrations and detail description of each sculpture which will help to understand the different phases of art activities in Uttarakhand Himalaya.