The Jageshwar Valley, Where Death Is Conquered

The Jageshwar valley, situated thirty-five kilometers northeast of the district town of Almora in Uttarakhand state in northern India, has one hundred fifty lithic edifices and nearly as many steles dating from the seventh to the twenty-first century (Fig. 1). This conglomeration makes this valley the locus of the largest number of Hindu monuments and sculptures in the wide swath of Himalayan terrain extending from the Kangra valley in the west to the Kathmandu valley in the east. How, when, and why did the Jageshwar valley develop into a great tı̄rtha (sacred center)? Even provisional answers to this question are neither straightforward nor easy to obtain. For unlike places of historical and cultural significance in Kangra and Kathmandu, the Jageshwar valley has received little scholarly attention. Accurate floor plans of only five