Kainchi Dham Ashram
Kainchi Mandir | Nainital
Kainchi Dham Ashram is a placed at an altitude of (1400 mt) On the Nainital – Almora Road, at a distance of 9 Km from Bhowali and 17 Kms from Nainital is a modern pilgrim centre. This place has achieved recognition owing to the ashram of the famous Shri Neem Karoli Baba Maharajji. Many hundreds of people visit the temples here every day, in season. Each year, during the June 15th Bhandara, reportedly, more than one lakh people are fed. Kainchi 
is a term used for two sharp hairpin bends of the motor road in local dialect hence the name. Founded by the famous Maharaj Neem Karoli Baba in 1962 and is very well maintained and kept neat and clean. The concept of this place came into existence in 1942 when Maharaj Neem Karoli along with Shri Poornanand of the Kainchi Village proposed building an Ashram here dedicated to Sombari Maharaj and Sadhu Premi Baba who used to perform yagnas in this very place.
Later in 1962, their dream materialised and the forest from this area was cleared and a rectangular platform was constructed. After due permission from the Forest Conservator, Maharaj Ji acquired the lease of this land and constructed a Temple devoted to Lord Hanuman over that rectangular platform and adjacent to it is the Kainchi Temple and an Ashram built for devotees. The Hanuman temple is built over the platform mentioned above. His devotees started coming from different places and a chain of bhandaras, kirtans, bhajans started. The Pran-Pratishtha of idols of Hanumanji and others was performed on 15th June in different years. Thus, 15th June is celebrated every year as Pratishtha Divas when a large number of devotees come to Kainchi and get Prasad.
The number of devotees and the associated vehicular traffic is so large that the district administration has to make special arrangement to regulate the same. Accordingly some changes have been made in the whole complex so that people do not face any difficulty in movement. There is also a cave beside the temple where Baba Neem Karoli used to spend his time praying and is considered a sacred area.
