Triyuginarayan Temple: Where Shiva and Parvati Married, and Weddings There Today

Triyuginarayan is a small stone temple in a village above Sonprayag, on the road to Kedarnath, and it carries one of the best-loved stories in the Himalaya. This is held to be where Shiva married Parvati, with Vishnu giving the bride away and Brahma acting as priest, before a sacred fire that pilgrims say has burned ever since. For a Kedarnath pilgrim it is a short detour; for a growing number of couples it is the place to be married.

The story and the temple

The temple is dedicated to Vishnu as Narayan, and its name means "Narayan of the three ages": the fire in front of it is said to have burned through three yugas, since the divine wedding. This fire, the Akhand Dhuni, is kept alive with wood offered by pilgrims, and many take a little of its ash home as a blessing. Around the temple are small kunds named for the gods of the wedding, among them Rudra Kund, Vishnu Kund and Brahma Kund, fed by a spring. The architecture resembles Kedarnath's, in grey stone, on a smaller scale.

Getting there

The road turns off just before Sonprayag and climbs to the village, which sits at about 2,000 m. There is also an old footpath from Sonprayag for walkers. The temple is open through the year; the season is busiest from May to October, when the Kedarnath yatra is running, and the road can be blocked by snow in mid-winter.

Adding it to a Kedarnath trip

Pilgrims on their way to Kedarnath often visit Triyuginarayan on the afternoon they reach Sonprayag, or on the way back down after the trek. It needs two to three hours there and back from Sonprayag with time at the temple. See our Guptkashi to Kedarnath guide for planning the trek around it, and remember that yatra registration is needed for Kedarnath itself.

Weddings at Triyuginarayan

Because of the story, couples have long come here to marry, and the Uttarakhand government has promoted the village as a wedding destination. Weddings are performed by the temple's priests in front of the Akhand Dhuni, and the ceremony is usually simple and traditional, with the families gathered in the courtyard and the reception held elsewhere.

• Book through the temple. Contact the temple committee or its priests directly for the date and the arrangements; be wary of agents promising "packages".
• Choose the season carefully. May, June and September to November are the usual months. Monsoon roads are unreliable, and winter is cold, with snow possible.
• Plan for altitude and distance. Elders should travel slowly from Rishikesh over two days.
• Plan rooms early. The village has few rooms, so most families stay lower down and drive up on the day.

Where to stay

Triyuginarayan has a handful of guest houses. For more comfort, stay in Guptkashi, about 40 km away, which has the widest choice of hotels on this stretch, or near Sonprayag and Sitapur, closer but busier during the yatra; see our hotels in Kedarnath, Gaurikund and Sonprayag. For a wedding party, Guptkashi is the practical choice.