Bhimtal
—  city  —
Bhimtal Location of Bhimtal in Uttarakhand and India
Coordinates	29°21′00″N 79°34′00″E / 29.35°N 79.5667°E / 29.35; 79.5667Coordinates: 29°21′00″N 79°34′00″E / 29.35°N 79.5667°E / 29.35; 79.5667
Country	India
State	Uttarakhand
District(s)	Nainital
Population	5,875 (2001[update])
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)

Bhimtal is a town and a nagar panchayat in Nainital district in the state of Uttarakhand, India, situated at an altitude of 1370 meters above sea level and is about 22 kilometers from Nainital. The major attraction in Bhimtal is the Bhimtal Lake, which has an island at its centre. Besides tourism, Bhimtal has also now become a mini district headquarters since most of the district administration offices have been shifted to the newly constructed Vikas Bhawan, the building complex for district administrative offices.

History[link]

Bhimtal is an ancient place named after Bhima of Mahabharata. Bhimeshwara Mahadev Temple, an old Shiva temple in the bank of Bhimtal lake, is believed to have been built when Bhima visited the place during the banishment (vanvas) period of Pandavas. The present temple was built in 17th century, by Baz Bahadur (1638–78 AD), a King of the Chand dynasty, and the Raja of Kumaon.^[1]

Bhimtal came under British rule after the Anglo-Nepalese War (1814–16).

Bhimtal is older than nearby Nainital as the city of Nainital is just 150–160 years old. But Bhimtal has been a stoppage for the travellers of the region from hills to plains or vice versa for a long time. The old pedesterial road is still in use here and this road connects nearby Kathgodam to all Kumaun region and even to Nepal and Tibet. It might have been the part of the famous ancient silk route.

Places of interest[link]

Temple by the Bhimtal Lake, Bhimtal, by Samuel Bourne, 1864.

Near the Bhimeshwar temple is a small hill known as Garg Parvat, which is the source of river Gargi, also known as Gola Nadi in the region.

About 2 km from Bhimtal is Nal Damyanti Tal, a small natural lake. It is believed that the palace of famous king Nala drowned into this lake. It is a very sacred place for the dwellers of the region.

About 5 km from Bhimtal is the famous group of lakes known as Sattal, which is a place of attraction for nature lovers. Clear water of lakes surrounded by thick forest and voice of birds is a wonderful experience. Hill near the lake known as Hidimba Parvat. It gets its name from demon Hidimba of Mahabharata. Vankhandi Maharaj, a monk and environmentalist lives on the hill now, and has created a sanctuary for the wild animals around the hill. The area is known as Vankhandi Ashram.

The hill of Karkotaka is supposed to be named after Karkotaka, a mythical cobra. The hill is famous for its Nag temple in the region and on every Rishi Panchami thousands of people visit the temple and worship the Nag Karkotaka Maharaj. This is one of the famous nag temples situated in Uttarakhand region.

Institutitions[link]

As Nainital is renowned hill station of the country and district headquarter also there is not enough space for administrative offices. Government has constructed Vikas Bhawan building in Bhimtal and most of the District Administration offices of Nainital District are shifted in Vikas Bhawan complex.

There are many government and private institutions in Bhimtal, including Tasar Regional Research Center (Ministry of Textile, Govt. of India), National Cold Water Fisheries Institute, Jan Sikshan Sansthan, Birla Institute of Applied Sciences (an Institute of Higher Technical Education), Kumoun University Campus (Faculty of Management, Pharmacy & Bio-Technology) and District Institute of Teachers |Education (DITE).

Uttarakhand Graphic Era Parvatiya Vishwavidyalaya (Under the aegis of Graphic Era Educational Society, Dehradun and notified by the Government of Uttarakhand as a private university) have started its Kumaun campus in Bhimtal at Sattal Road from the session 2011–12 with B.Tech (in 5 branches of Electronics & Communication, Computer Science, Information Technology, Mechanical and Civil Engineering), MCA and MBA programmes.

Government Model School (राजकीय आदर्श विद्यालय), Bhimtal, is the oldest school in the area, which is running for about 100 years from the British period. Lilawati Pant Inter College (popularly known as LP Inter College)and Government Girls Inter College (earlier Girls High School) are other Government educational institution in Bhimtal.

Sainik School in Ghorakhal near Bhimtal is a school where students prepare themselves to join the Indian Military. The Head of the school is a working officer from the Indian Air Force. Besides that Bhimtal now has quite a few English medium schools. Hermann Gmeiner School [1] is well known school at Bhimtal and is situated at Tallital Bhimtal ,it is famous for its school and Orphanage(SOS Bhimtal)[2]. It's a co-ed school from Prep to XII standard with both boarding and day scholars.Students from Hermann Gmeiner Bhimtal are now placed all over the world and in different sectors like Defense, Software,Indian Government Services. Mount Alvern Convent School is a very good place to start yours education situated in between Datt and Mallital road. Lakes International School, Templeton Academy, Naukuchiatal are some other well known schools in the area.

Demographics[link]

As of 2001^[update] India census,^[2] Bhimtal had a population of 5875. Males constitute 54% of the population and females 46%. Bhimtal has an average literacy rate of 78%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; with male literacy of 81% and female literacy of 75%. 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.

The dam by the Bhimtal Lake and the Bhim temple at Bhimtal, 1895.

See also[link]

• Bhimtal Lake
• Pannatal Lake

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bhimtal

• Bhimtal atNainital district Bheemtal.com Bheemtal.com
• Detail about Bhimtal.