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The Rudranath temple is believed to be established by the Pandavas, the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahabharata. Legend has it that the Pandavas came to the Himalayan mountains in search of god Shiva, to redeem them of the sins of killing in the epic Kurukshetra war. God Shiva did not want to meet them and escaped in form of a bull in the ground and reentered in parts in the Panch Kedar places: the hump raising in Kedarnath, the arms appearing in Tunganath, the navel and stomach surfacing in Madhyamaheswar, the face showing up at Rudranath and the hair and the head appearing in Kalpeshwar.[3] In winter, a symbolic image of Shiva is brought to Gopeshwar for worship.

Pithoragarh’s history can be traced to the time of the Puranas when it flourished though no documents from that era have been recovered. What is known is that Pithoragarh used to be an important stop en route to Kailasa Parbat. The first recorded document is from the time of the great Rajput King Prithviraj Chauhan who named the place as Rai Pithora. Under the Chand and Katyuri dynasties its name was adapted to “Prithigarh”. Several kings and dynasties ruled Pithoragarh and perhaps one of the last was the Chand dynasty that built a fort to show their might and strength. This fort today houses the girls hostel Pithoragarh was taken over by the British administration, and they have left their impressions in the churches, cantonment area etc., that exist in Pithoragarh even today.

Pauri Garhwal district was a part of the erstwhile Garhwal Kingdom ruled by the Pal (Shah) dynasty. The throne of the King was at Srinagar. In 1803 Gurkhas, after many unsuccessful attempts, finally succeeded in capturing Garhwal by defeating the army of King Pradyumna Shah. In 1816, the British defeated the Gurkhas in the Anglo-Nepalese war, and the Garhwal Kingdom was reestablished from Tehri. However, the eastern part of Garhwal (named as British Garhwal), along with Kumaon, was merged with British India as a result of the Treaty of Sugauli.

After independence it was known as Garhwal district and further divided into Pauri Garhwal and Chamoli districts in 1960. In 1997 an additional area was carved out of the Pauri Garhwal and merged with parts of Chamoli and Tehri Garhwal districts to form a new district named Rudraprayag.

Mukteshwar got its name by uniting two Sanskrit words first word is 'Mukti' which means “salvation” and other word 'Ishwar' another name for God almighty as demon once had a battle with Lord Shiva himself in which the demon lost the battle. But even then demon attained immortality. So Mukteshwar is a place where one can attain salvation.

The history of Mukteswar has nothing much to share with the travelers except for a few facts. There is an interesting legend associated with the place.The serene town of Mukteshwar derives its name from the ancient temple of Lord Shiva perched atop a hillock. Legend says that Lord Shiva offered the gift of immortality or Mukti to a demon here. The history of this town laced with fruit orchards, thick coniferous forest was thoughtfully metamorphosed by the colonial rulers as research and education institute (IVRI) in 1893. History has also recorded that Jim Corbett , the world famous hunter turned conservationist had visited the place and could not stop falling in love with its scenic beauty.

The legend of Madhyamhasewar is an integral part of the legend of Panch Kedar, which is a captivating narration of the efforts of Pandavas to atone for the sins of their fratricide (gotra- hatya) act of killing their cousins, the Kauravas, and Brāhmanahatya (killing of Brahmins - the priest class), during the epic Mahabharata war. On advice from sages and their trusted benefactor god Krishna they sought Lord Shiva to pardon them and bless them to attain salvation. Since Shiva was annoyed with them for their conduct during the Kurukshetra war, he tried to avoid them by assuming the animal form of a bull or Nandi and hid himself in the Himalayan Garhwal region. But the determined Pandavas, after sighting Shiva in the form of the bull grazing in the hills of Guptakashi, tried to forcibly hold the bull by its tail and hind legs. But the bull disappeared into the ground to reappear later in his original self of Lord Shiva at five places; in the form of a hump at Kedarnath, in the shape of bahu (arms) at Tungnath, with his face at Rudranath, his nabhi (navel) and stomach at Madhyamaheswar and his hair (locks) called jata at Kalpeshwar. Pandavas, pleased with the revelation of Lord Shiva at five places in different forms, built temples at these five places, worshipped him and attained salvation with blessings of Shiva.

The place was named after the 5th Marques of Lansdowne, Lord Henry Charles Keith Petty Fitz- Maurice who was also the Viceroy of India from 1888 to 1894. The place full of charming beauty became a popular hill station during the British Raj when the sahibs from the Army galloped across the ridge to view the jagged snow covered peaks of the Greater Himalayas and the beautifully spread out valley below.

The epic legend narrated on the creation of the Panch Kedar temples is that Pandavas of Mahabharata epic history, while chasing Lord Shiva to seek his pardon for the fratricidal sins committed by them during the Kurukshetra war, realized that Shiva, in order to distance himself from the Pandavas, took the incognito form of a bull. But when this form of Shiva was discerned by Bhima, the second of the Pandava brothers, tried to hold on to the bull's tail and hind legs. But the bull vanished underground at Guptakashi. Subsequently it reappeared in five different forms: His hump appeared at Kedarnath, his bahu (arm) was spotted at Tungnath, his head surfaced at Rudranath, the stomach and navel were traced at Madhyamaheswar and his jata (tress) was divined at Kalpeshwar.[4] Another legend states that this place was much preferred by sages of folklore for meditation. Particular mention is made of sage Arghya who through his austere penance created Urvashi, the famous apsara (nymph) at this place. Durvasa, an ancient sage, son of Atri and Anasuya, considered an incarnation of Shiva, known for his short temper did penance and meditated under the Kalpavriksha, the wish fulfilling divine tree in the precincts of the temple.[3] Further, it is said that Durvasa had given Kunti, mother of Pandavas, a boon that "she could invoke any of the forces of nature and they would appear before her and grant whatever she desired". Once, when Pandavas, were in exile here, in order to test them Durvasa visited them along with his desciples and desired to be dined by them. Unfortunately, there was no food available with in the house to feed the surprise guests. Draupadi, wife of Pandavas, sought Lord Krishna's help. Krishna materialised on the scene and solved the problem.

Jyotirmath or Joshimath (northern monastery) was originally known as Kartikeyapura, one of the four cardinal pīthas established by Adi Sankara, the others being those at Sringeri, Puri and Dwaraka. Their heads are titled "Shankaracharya". According to the tradition initiated by Adi Shankara, this matha is in charge of the Atharva Veda.
As it is close to the pilgrimage town of Badrinath, and the matha has not always been active, it is sometimes said incorrectly that the original northern matha was established at Badrinath.
In its most recent history, the Jyotirmath became inactive in the early 19th century. The formal occupation of the matha was restarted with the aid of the heads of some of the other mathas from about 1940 onward. However, there is an unresolved controversy over the succession to the headship of Jyotirmath. The best known of the claimants to be the current head or Shankaracharya is Svarūpānanda Sarasvatī who is also head of the Dwaraka matha. The other two claimants are Vāsudevānanda Sarasvatī and Mādhavāśrama.