Popularlynarrated legend holds that subsequent to the Kurukshetra war of the epic

Mahabharata, the Pandavas on the advise of god Krishna and other sages wished to atone for their sins of

fratricide and Brhmanahatya committed by them during the war by seeking pardon from Shiva and also

pray for his blessings before attaining salvation. But Shiva was not willing to meet them

since he was annoyed with them for the unjust events of the war. He, therefore, avoided

meeting them at Kashi and went incognito as the bull Nandi to Guptakashi in Uttarakhand.

But Pandavas pursued him to Guptakashi and recognized him in the disguised form of Nandi. When Bhima,

the second Pandava brother tried to hold the bull by its tail and hind legs, Nandi vanished from

Guptakashi, into the ground (into a cave for hiding), but reappeared later as Shiva in five different

forms namely, hump at Kedarnath, face at Rudraprayag, arms at Tungnath,

navel and stomach at Madhyamahesh war and the locks at Kalpeshwar.

The vanishing act of Shiva gave the name Guptakashi (hidden Kashi) to this place on the bank of the

Mandakini River. In the upper reaches of the Bhagirathi River, there is another Kashi,

called the Uttarkashi (North Kashi).