Gangotri
Gangotri is a town and a Nagar Panchayat in Uttarkashi district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is 99 km from Uttarkashi, the main district headquarter. It is a Hindu pilgrim town on the banks of the river Bhagirathi – the origin of the river Ganges. The town is located on the Greater Himalayan Range, at a height of. According to a popular Hindu legend, the goddess Ganga descended here when Shiva released the mighty river from the locks of his hair.
File:Gangotri.jpg|thumb|Bhagirathi River and Himalayas in Gangotri, Uttarakhand
Significance
Ganga River
Gangotri is one of the four sites in the Chota Char Dham pilgrimage circuit. It is also the origin of the Ganges River and, per Hinduism, the seat of the goddess Ganga. The source of the Ganges River is the Bhagirathi River, originating from the Gangotri Glacier. Once the river confluences with the Alakananda River at a town called Devprayag it finally acquires the name Ganga.Near the river is a stone where King Bhagiratha performed penance to Shiva in order to bring the Ganga down to earth and absolve the sins of his ancestors. According to another legend, Pandavas performed the great 'Deva Yajna' here to atone the deaths of their kinsmen in the epic battle of the Mahabharata. Hindus believe that performing the ancestral rites on the banks of Bhagirathi frees the spirit of the ancestor from the cycle of rebirth and a holy dip in its waters cleanses sins committed in the present also past births.