Madhyamaheshwar

Madhyamaheshwar, also called Madmaheshwar, is a Shiva temple near Gaundar village in Rudraprayag district, set at 3,497 metres in the Garhwal Himalaya. It is one of the Panch Kedar, a circuit of five Shiva temples: pilgrims usually come here after Kedarnath, Tungnath and Rudranath and before Kalpeshwar. Here Shiva's middle, his navel, is worshipped.

Legend says the Pandavas, seeking to atone for the killing of their kin in the Kurukshetra war, followed Shiva from Varanasi into Garhwal, where he hid from them as a bull; when Bhima caught hold of him, parts of the god's body appeared at five places, and the Pandavas are believed to have built a temple at each. Madhyamaheshwar is reached only on foot, by a trek of 16 to 18 kilometres from Aktolidhar or from Ransi village near Ukhimath.