Badhangarhi Temple

Badhangarhi temple, also called Maa Badhangarhi Mandir, is an old Hindu shrine to Kali, worshipped here as Maa Dakshineshwar Kali or Bhagwati. It stands at about 2,260 metres in Tharali tehsil of Chamoli district, roughly 8 km from the town of Gwaldam, and the goddess commands deep faith among people of Tharali, Naranbagar and Dewal in Chamoli and of Garur and Kapkot in Bageshwar.

The temple belonged to Badhangarh, one of the 52 garhs, or forts, of Garhwal, on the left bank of the Pindar. Legend credits the original shrine to a Katyuri king, of the line that ruled the region from the 8th to the 12th century. Lying between Garhwal and Kumaon, the area saw frequent fighting: in 1670 Baz Bahadur Chand invaded and carried off the temple's image of Nanda Devi to Almora. Local tradition says that G.W. Traill, struck by snow-blindness, was told it was the goddess's curse and built her a new temple to be cured.