Legend, Importance, Key Attraction, Travel Guide of Kedarnath Temple, Uttarakhand
Kedarnath Temple is located on the Garhwal Himalaya Range near the Mandakini River at height of 3583 mts enclosed by snow-clad mountains, forests and mesmerizing views in Rudraprayag district of state of Uttarakhand India. Kedarnath, the combination of two word Kedara means field and Nath means Lord thus literally mean is Lord of the field. Kedarnath temple is highly sacred and significant in Hinduism as one of the twelve and most important Jyotirlinga of Lord Shiva and one of the main Dham of Chhota Char Dham of Uttarakhand along with Badirnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri. It is also most important among the Panch Kedar –which includes the Kedarnath, Tungnath, Rudranath, Madhyamaheshwar and Kalpeshwar. Thus every year millions of devotee, nature and adventure lover flocks here to seek the blessing of Lord Shiva. Due to extreme weather Kedarnath Dham is closed during winter from November to April and deity is shifted to Ukhimath from main shrine and reopen from May to October. Kedarnath temple committee states there are more than 200 shrines dedicated to Lord Shiva in Chamoli district but the most important one is Kedarnath.
The Legend of Kedarnath temple goes back to Mahabharat time – end of Dwapar Yuga. When Pandavas felt guilty after the victory over the Kauravas in the Kurukshetra war due to killed their own kith and kin and thus they sought the blessings of Lord Shiva for redemption. Thus is believed that Pandava first built the Kedarnath Temple around 5250 years back. Later on Adi Shankaracharya – the great saint and philosopher of Sanatan Dharma had rebuilt Kedarnath Temple in 8th century. It is also said that temple was under the snow from around 400 years between 13th to 19th centuries. This is the true example of ancient temple architecture and science that even after this temple stood as it is as symbol of spirituality.
The key attraction of Kedarnath temple is conical rock formation of Shivlinga in irregular shape inside the temple is worshipped as Lord Shiva in his Sadashiva form. Along with this idols of goddess Parvati, Pandavas, Lord Krishna, Draupadi, Nandi and Virbhadra – vehicle and guard of Lord Shiva respectively are place in temple premise. Various ritual, puja vidhi like Mahabhishek, Rudrabhishek, Laghurudrabhishek, Shodasopachar are perform throughout the date from early morning to evening. Devotee can plan and book various ritual based on their faith. Apart from this, various festivity like Badari Kedar Utsav, Shravani Annkoot Mela and Samadhi Pooja attracts lots of people.
Devotee can reach Kedarnath temple via Gaurikund the last point of connected road and then 16 km trek to reach temple. Gaurikund is well connected to all the cities of Uttarakhanda and nearest airport is Jolly Grant Airport of Dehradun around 240 km. Rishikesh railway station is around 215 km and Haridwar is around 230 km from where bus and taxi are easy available to reach to Gaurikund. From Gaurikund, around 16 km distance can be commence by foot, palki and on mules. Another option is to choose helicopter service which can be avail from various aviation service provider and from helipads like Guptkashi, Sersi, Phata etc.
