Uttarakhand’s Narayankoti Temple: Adopt a Heritage Project

• 21 Aug 2021

Why in News

Recently, the Narayankoti temple (Uttarakhand) has been included under the Centre's Adopt a Heritage project.

Key Points

• Adopt a Heritage Project:
  
  • About:
    
    • Launched on 27^th September, 2017 (World Tourism Day), it is a collaborative effort by the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), State/UTs Governments.
  • Aim:
    
    • To develop tourism amenities at heritage/ natural/ tourist sites spread across India to make them tourist friendly, in a planned and phased manner.
  • Implementation:
    
    • The sites/monuments are selected on the basis of tourist footfall and visibility and can be adopted by private and public sector companies and individuals — known as Monument Mitras — for an initial period of five years.
    • The Monument Mitras are selected by the ‘oversight and vision committee,’ co-chaired by the Tourism Secretary and the Culture Secretary, on the basis of the bidder’s ‘vision’ for development of all amenities at the heritage site.
      
      • There is no financial bid involved.
    • The corporate sector is expected to use Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds for the upkeep of the site.

Other Related Schemes

• DekhoApnaDesh
• Iconic Tourist Sites
• Swadesh Darshan
• Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD)

• Narayankoti Temple:
  
  • The temple is a group of ancient temples, about 2 km from Guptkashi on the Rudraprayag-Gaurikund highway.
  • This is the only place in the country which has nine planetary temples in a group that are a “symbol of nine planets”.
  • It is devoted to Lakshmi Narayana who is associated with Pandavas.
  • It is believed that these temples were constructed in the 9^th century.

Other Important Places in Uttarakhand

• Chardham - Gangotri, Yamunotri, Badrinath (on the bank of River Alaknanda, dedicated to Lord Vishnu), Kedarnath (dedicated to Lord Shiva), collectively known as Char dham.
  
  • Under the Chardham Pariyojana, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is aiming to improve the connectivity for Chardham.
• Hemkund Sahib: Formerly known as Gurudwara Shri Hemkund Sahib Ji, it is a Sikh place of worship and pilgrimage site in Chamoli district. It is devoted to Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru, and finds mention in Dasam Granth, a work dictated by Guruji himself.
• UNESCO World Heritage Site of Valley of Flowers and Nanda Devi (National Parks).
• Jim Corbett National Park (oldest national park of the country) and Rajaji Tiger Reserve.

Source: IE