There are Tarakeshwars in several other places in India. The most important one is in West Bengal about 4 hours train journey from Kolkata. There is another one near Jaipur in Rajasthan. The only commonality of all the Tarakeshwars is that a Shiva Temple is located there.

Some people have associated it with the word ‘Taar’ which means tree thereby Tarakeshwar meaning ‘the Lord of the Trees’. This seems to be a very logical explanation because in Tarakeshwar there are tall Deodar trees which are worshipped by the people. The people are not allowed to climb the trees because they are revered by the people who come to Tarakeshwar. In fact after praying at the temple in Tarakeshwar the priest used to give the leaves of the Deodar tree as ‘prasad’ to the worshippers.

Another convincing explanation is that in Sanskrit “Tarag” means a lake or pond. In the earlier times a lake probably existed in Tarakeshwar. The topography also supports this theory. Since there was a Shiva Temple the place was earlier called Tarageshwar meaning ‘the Lord of the Lake’ which over a period of time became Tarakeshwar. If a 3 mtr. high dam is built just after the open swimming pool, a lake can easily be formed. I feel that earlier there was a lake in Tarakeshwar and due to the innumerable earthquakes in the Himalayas water started oozing out and with continuous erosion the lake dried.

According to folklore after killing the demon Tarakasoor, Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati came to Tarakeshwar to take rest. Since the sun was shining on Lord Shiva, Goddess Parvati transformed herself into seven Deodar trees to provide shade to Lord Shiva. These seven trees are situated in the Temple complex. All the other deodar trees have originated from these seven trees. The whole area is now therefore called Tarakeshwar.

Swami Hariharanand and some saints had told me that Tarakeshwar was a ‘Siddhapeeth’ meaning that apart from Adi Shankaracharya some other great saint had also done meditation here. I have personally experienced very strong energies in Tarakeshwar. Several ‘sadhaks’ also had very interesting experiences in this place.

According to a folklore Lord Shiva during the day stay at Mount Kailash and during the night comes to stay at Tarakeshwar. Several people experience tremors in Tarakeshwar at night. They say that when Lord Shiva comes with Parvatiji the earth trembles.

Two fairs are held on every year when special prayers are done in Tarakeshwar. The first one is on Shivaratri and in second one in June. The local people bring their harvested crop to Tarakeshwar and offer it in the temple before they consume them.