The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s5.20

c5.s5.20

Gangotri—A spot in the Rudra Himalaya in Garwal, supposed by the ancient Hindus to have been the source of the Ganges, though it has been traced further north by Captain Hodgson (Asia. Res., vol. XIV). There is a temple of Ganga Devi. One kos from Gangotri and two kos from Meani-ki-Gad there is a spot called Patangiri, which is said to be the place where the five Pandavas remained for twelve years worshipping Mahadeva and where perhaps Draupadi and four of the Pandavas died (Mbh., Mahaprasthanika P., ch. 2). After that Yudhishthira left this place and ascended Svargarohini, a peak of the sacred hill whence the Ganges flows. The Rudra Himalaya has five principal peaks called Rudra Himalaya (the eastern peak), Burrampuri, Bissenpuri, Udgurrikanta and Svargarohini (the western and nearest peak). These form a sort of semi-circular hollow of very considerable extent filled with eternal snow, from the gradual dissolution of the lower parts of which the principal part of the stream is generated (Fraser’s Tour through the Himalaya Mountains, pp. 466, 470, 471; Martin’s Indian Empire, vol. III, pp. 11, 21). See Sumeru-parvata.