Kedarnath Jyotirling Mandir or Kedarnath Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva, who is worshipped as Kedarnath, the 'Lord of Kedar Khand', the historical name of the region. It is on the Garhwal Himalayan range near the Mandakini river in Kedarnath in Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand in India.
Kedarnath Temple in Winter
The temple was built by Pandavas and revived by Adi Shankaracharya and is the highest among the twelve Jyotirlingas, the holiest Hindu shrines of Shiva. It is one of the 275 Paadal Petra Sthalams, expounded in Tevaram. Pandavas were supposed to have pleased Shiva by doing penance in Kedarnath. The temple is one of the four major sites in India's Chota Char Dham pilgrimage of Northern Himalayas (literally 'the small four abodes/seats' or pilgrimage centers) of the Garhwal Himalayas. The other three dhams are Badrinath, Yamunotri and Gangotri.
Pandavas worshipping Kedarnath Jyotirlinga
According to a mythological account, the god Shiva agreed to dwell here at the request of Nara-Narayana. After the Kurukshetra War, the Pandava brothers, came here to meet Shiva on the advice of the sage Vyasa, because they wanted to seek forgiveness for killing their kin during the war. However, Shiva did not want to forgive them. So he turned into a bull and hid among the cattle on the hill. When the Pandavas managed to track him, he tried to disappear by sinking himself head-first into the ground. One of the brothers grabbed his tail, forcing him to appear before them and forgive them. The Pandava brothers then built the first temple at Kedarnath. The portions of Shiva's body later appeared at four other locations, and collectively, these five places came to be known as the five Kedaras ("Panch Kedar"), the head of the bull appeared at the location of the Pashupatinath Temple in present-day Nepal.
The Mahabharata, which gives the account of the Pandavas and the Kurukshetra War, does not mention any place called Kedarnath. One of the earliest references to Kedarnath occurs in the Skanda Purana (7th-8th century), which contains a myth describing the origin of the Ganges river. The text names Kedara (Kedarnath) as the place where Shiva released the holy water from his matted hair.
According to the hagiographies based on Madhava's Sankshepa-shankara-vijaya, the 8th century philosopher Adi Shankara died here at Kedaranatha (Kedarnath), although other hagiographies, based on Anandagiri's Prachina Shankara Vijaya, state that he died at Kanchi. The ruins of a monument marking the purported death place of Shankara are located at Kedarnath.
Kedarnath was definitely a prominent pilgrimage centre by the 12th century, when it is mentioned in Kritya-kalpataru written by the Gahadavala minister Bhatta Lakshmidhara.
According to a tradition recorded by the English mountaineer Eric Shipton(1926), "many hundreds of years ago", the Kedarnath temple did not have a local priest, and however it is extremely unbelievable, the priest of the Badrinath temple used to hold services at both the temples, traveling between the two places daily!
The presiding image of Kedaranth in the form of lingam is or irregular shape with an pedestal 3.6 m (12 ft) in circumference and 3.6 m (12 ft) in height. There are five temples around namely Badarikedar, Madhya Maheswara, Tunganatha, Rudranatha and Kallesvara. There is a small pillared hall in front of the temple, that has images of Parvathi and of the five Pandava princes. The first hall inside Kedarnath Temple contains statues of the five Pandava brothers, Lord Krishna, Nandi, the vehicle of
Shiva and Virabhadra, one of the guards of Shiva. Statue of Draupadi and other deities are also installed in the main hall.
INSIDE OF KEDARNATH TEMPLE
An unusual feature of the temple is the head of a man carved in the triangular stone fascia. Such a head is seen carved in another temple nearby constructed on the site where the marriage of Shiva and Parvati was held. Adi Shankara was believed to have revived this temple, along with Badrinath and other temples of Uttarakhand. He is believed to have attained Mahasamadhi at Kedaranath. Behind the temple is the samadhi mandir of Adi Sankara.
The head priest (Raval) of the Kedarnath temple belongs to the Veerashaiva community from Karnataka. However, unlike in Badrinath temple, the Raval of Kedarnath temple does not perform the pujas. The pujas are carried out by Raval's assistants on his instructions. The Raval moves with the deity to Ukhimath during the winter season. There are five main priests for the temple, and they become head priests for one year by rotation. The present Raval of Kedarnath temple is Shri Vageesha Lingacharya who belongs from the Village Banuvalli of Tehsil (Taluka) Harihar of Davanagere district in Karnataka. During Pooja of Lord Shiva at Kedaranath the mantras will be pronounced in the Kannada language. This has been a custom from hundreds of years.
A triangular shaped rock is worshiped in Garbhagriha of the temple. Surrounding Kedarnath, there are many symbols of the Pandavas. Raja Pandu died at Pandukeshwar. The tribals here perform a dance called "Pandav Nritya". The mountain top where the Pandavas went to Swarga, is known as "Swargarohini", which is located off Badrinath. When Darmaraja was leaving for Swarga, one of his fingers fell on the earth. At that place, Dharmaraj installed a Shiva Linga, which is the size of the thumb. To gain Mashisharupa, Shankara and Bheema fought with maces. Bheema was struck with remorse. He started to massage Lord Shankara’s body with ghee. In memory of this event, even today, this triangular Shiva JyotirLinga is massaged with ghee. Water and Bel leaves are used for worship.
Due to extreme weather conditions, the temple is open only between Akshaya Tritriya (almost the end of April) to Kartik Purnima (the autumn full moon- almost November). During the winters, the vigrahas (deities) from Kedarnath temple are brought to Ukhimath and worshipped there for six months.
The temple is not directly accessible by road and has to be reached by a 18 kilometres (11 miles) uphill trek from Gaurikund. Pony and manchan service is available to reach the structure.
It is not only difficult to visit Kedarnath but most difficult to photograph the Shivlinga. Here are some selected photos of Kedarnath temple on the opening day inthis year (2018). The temple was well decorated with Laser technology.
The Garhwal region is also called the Kedar-Khanda after Kedar, the local name for Lord Shiva. The region abounds in emblems and aniconic forms of Shiva sect of Lord Shiva, much more than the Vaishnava sect. The western part of this region in particular, which constitutes half of Chamoli district being known as Kedar Kshetra or Kedar mandala, encompasses in its ambit all the five temples constituting the Panch Kedar.
The Kedarnath is the first among the five temples designated in the strict pecking order to be followed for pilgrimage for worship. The other four are the Tungnath
(3,680 m or 12,070 ft), Rudranath (2,286 m or 7,500 ft), Madhyameheshwar or Madmaheshwar (3,490 m or 11,450 ft) and Kalpeshwar (2,200 m or 7,200 ft).
(3,680 m or 12,070 ft), Rudranath (2,286 m or 7,500 ft), Madhyameheshwar or Madmaheshwar (3,490 m or 11,450 ft) and Kalpeshwar (2,200 m or 7,200 ft).
PANCH KEDAR:
Kedarnath
Tungnath
Rudranath
Madhyameheshwar
Kedarnath
Kedarnath was the worst affected area during the 2013 flash floods in North India. The temple complex, surrounding areas and Kedarnath town suffered extensive damage, but the temple structure did not suffer any "major" damage, apart from a few cracks on one side of the four walls which was caused by the flowing debris from the higher mountains.
It was an extremely unbelievable miraculous incidents that a large rock among the debris acted as a barrier, protecting the temple from the flood, while at the other end, the surrounding premises and other buildings in market area were heavily damaged!
Mahesh Bhatt
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