Kedarnath

Kedarnath is a Hindu holy town located in the

Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is a nagar panchayat

in Rudraprayag district. The most remote of the four

Char Dham sites, Kedarnath is located in the 

Himalayas, about 3584m above sea level near the

head of river Mandakini, and is flanked by

breathtaking snow-capped peaks. Kedarnath hosts

one of the holiest Hindu temples, the Kedarnath Temple,and is a popular destination for Hindu pilgrims from all over the world, being one of the four major sites in India's Chota Char Dham pilgrimage.

Kedarnath is named in honor of King Kedar who

ruled in the Satya Yuga. He had a daughter named 

Vrinda who was a partial incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi.She performed austerities for 60000 years. In honour of her, the land is named Vrindavan. However, Kedarnath and its temple exist from the Mahabharata Era when the Pandavas are supposed to have pleased Lord Shiva by doing penance there.

Road to kedarnath

The temple is believed to have been built by Adi Sankaracharya and is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, the holiest Hindu shrines of Shiva. The older temple existed from the times of Mahabharata, when the Pandavas are supposed to have pleased Shiva by doing penance in Kedarnath. The temple is also one of the four major sites in India's Chota Char Dham pilgrimage of Northern Himalayas.

The temple opens on Akshaya Tritiya (April end or first week of May) and closes on Bhai Duj (October end or 1st week of November) due to heavy snowfall and extreme cold weather during winter. The actual temple is an impressive stone edifice of unknown date. According to the Puranas, the Pandava brothers performed penance in Kedarnath to please Lord Shiva. As a matter of fact, as one enters the main temple, the first hall contains
statues of the five Pandava brothers, Lord Krishna,

Nandi, the vehicle of Shiva and Virabhadra, one of 

the greatest guards of Shiva. An unusual feature of the temple is the head of a man carved in the triangular stone fascia of the temple. Such a head is seen carved in another temple nearby constructed on the sitewhere the marriage of Shiva and Parvati was held.

Kedarnath temple

No specific family of pujaris supervise rituals at Kedarnath, where the focus is on veneration of thestone lingam that rests in the inner sanctum of the temple.

Behind the temple is the samādhi mandir of Adi Sankara.Tamil saints Nayanars of 1st century like Sundarar and Sambanthar praised the deity in their hymns famous bythe name of Tevaram.