Virbhadra is a town in Dehradun district in the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...

, located close to the pilgrimage town of Rishikesh. It is most known as the factory township of Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited, Rishikesh plant (IDPL), a

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

undertaking, established in 1967, with about 2800 houses, with Government Inter College and a

Kendriya Vidyalaya The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan () is a system of central government schools in India that are instituted under the aegis of the Ministry of Education, Government of India. , it has a total of 1,248 schools in India, and three abroad in Moscow ...

, established in 1976 with support from IDPL administration but get closed in 2000, again reestablished by initiative of centre government in same campus in 2003 The town also has a historical

Virbhadra Temple Virbhadra Temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva, located at Virbhadra Virbhadra is a town in Dehradun district in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, located close to the pilgrimage town of Rishikesh. It is most known as the factory township of Ind ...

Neem Karoli Baba Neem Karoli Baba () or Neeb Karori Baba () ( – 11 September 1973), known to his followers as Maharaj-ji, was a Hindu guru and a devotee of the Hindu deity Hanuman. He is known outside India for being the spiritual master of a number of Amer ...

Ashram and a Hanuman Mandir. Very near to the town is the

Pashulok Barrage The Pashulok Barrage is a barrage located on the Ganges River just south of Rishikesh in Dehradun district, Uttarakhand, India. Chilla Power Plant In a run-of-the-river scheme, the main purpose of the barrage is to divert water into a canal o ...

which acts as a water reservoir for the Chilla Hydro power plant. The motorable road to the Neelkanth Mahadev Temple passes along the top of the dam.

Geography

Virbhadra is located at . It has an average elevation of 330 metres (1,083 feet).

History

It is named after ''

Virabhadra Virabhadra (), also rendered Veerabhadra, Veerabathira, and Veerabathiran, is a fierce form of the Hindu god Shiva. He is created by the wrath of Shiva, when the deity hurls a lock of his matted hair upon the ground, upon hearing of the self- ...

'', an avatar created through the wrath of

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

after the yajña of Daksha, at

Kankhal Kankhal is a small colony in Haridwar in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand state in India. Mentioned in the Vayu Purana and the Mahabharata as ''Kanakhala'',census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

, Virbhadra had a population of 13,271. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Virbhadra has an average literacy rate of 81%, higher than the national average of 74.04%: male literacy is 86%, and female literacy is 75%. In Virbhadra, 8% of the population is under 6 years of age.

References

Cities and towns in Dehradun district {{Uttarakhand-geo-stub