# Shiva shrine, Gangabal Lake

- By: UnpetitproleX
- Date: 2024-08-11
- Classification: Photograph
- Museum: [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shiva_shrine,_Gangabal_Lake.jpg)
- Rights: [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/commons/thumb/c/c4/Shiva_shrine%2C_Gangabal_Lake.jpg/1920px-Shiva_shrine%2C_Gangabal_Lake.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

A small shrine dedicated to Hindu god Shiva carved into a boulder near the high-altitude glacial Gangabal Lake in the Himalayas of the northern Indian territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The lake is located at the base of the Harmukh mountain which is also called the "Kailash of Kashmir" because it is considered to be the Himalayan abode of lord Shiva according to Kashmiri Hindu tradition. The lake, called Gangabal meaning 'place of Ganga' in Kashmiri, is considered sacred by Hindus and used by Kashmiri Hindus to immerse the ashes of their dead after cremation. It has been described as a place of pilgrimage in several ancient Hindu texts, such as the Mahabharata, Vishnu Smriti and Nilmata Purana.