The story of Kedarnath Temple:
According to the Puranas of Hindu religion,Lord Shivain India for the welfare of nature, appeared in the form of12 Jyothirlinga. Shivalinga, situated in those 12 places, is worshiped as Jyotirlinga.
One of them is also Kedarnath Jyotirlinga. This is one of the four Dham andPanch Kedaras.Panch Kedar includes Kedarnath, Rudranath, Kalpeshwar, Madhyeshwar and Tungnath.
Where is the Kedarnath Temple located?
Kedarnath Temple is located in Rudraprayag of Uttarakhand district of India.
Kedarnath Dham, situated in the lap of the Himalaya Mountains in Uttrakhand, opens for 6 months for the devotees. And after the heavy snowfall in the winter, the way of coming here closes. Every year lakhs of devotees come in Kedarnath Dham. The Kedarnath Dham temple is surrounded by mountains all around. Not only 3 mountains but also the confluence of 5 rivers is also considered here. Five of these rivers include Mandakini, Madhiganga, Kshiranga, Saraswati and Swarnagauri. Some of these rivers are considered fictional. Only the Mandakini river is seen here. The origin of the Mandakini river is the trunk of the Choribari glacier. Kedarnath Temple was built near Mandakini river.
Who has Built the Kedarnath Temple?
The Kedarnath temple is believed to be more than 1000 years old. Where does this temple be constructed by the birthplace of the descendants of Pandavas?
According to second recognition, in the 10th century, King Bhoj of Malwa had built Kedarnath temple.According to popular belief, the temple was built by Jagatguru Adi Shankaracharya in the eighth century. At the age of 32, in the year 820 AD, he died near the Kedarnath temple. There is also the tomb of Jagatguru Adi Shankaracharya in the previous part of the temple.
Kedarnath Temple Inside:
According to the first story, the ascetic male and Narayana sage used to perform penance in the incarnation of Lord Vishnu on the peak of Kedar. Lord Shiva appealed to him after being pleased with his worship, and according to his prayer, the same place as Jyotirlinga settled for eternity.
According to the second story, after winning the war of Mahabharata, the Pandavas had the sin of killing their brothers. Pandavas wanted to be free from this sin. That is why he wanted to get the blessings of Lord Shiva.
Lord Shiva was angry with the killing done by Pandavas. So he did not want to see the Pandavas. Pandavas went to Kashi to see Lord Shiva, but Lord did not get there. Pandavas came to the Himalayas looking for God to find. Lord Shiva did not want to appear to Pandav, so he got intermittent from there and went to Kedarnath. Pandav reached Kedar after pursuing Lord Shiva.
Lord Shiva embraced the bull and joined the herds of animals.
Pandavas were skeptical of this. Then Bhima took a huge form and spread his legs on both the mountains. All the animals went under the feet of Bhima but Lord Shiva did not go. When Bhima thought to catch the bull, then the ox was going to settle in the ground. Then Bhima grabbed the back of the bull’s belt. Seeing this determination of Pandavas, Shiva was very happy, and by appearing to them, he was freed from their sins.
From that point onwards, Lord Shiva is worshiped as Pind (the bull’s back).
It is also believed that when there was interference in the form of Lord Shiva bull, the upper part of his appeared in Kathmandu. Who is worshiped as Pashupatinath.
Shiva’s arms appeared in Tungnath, mouth in the Rudranath, Navel in madhyeshwar and Jata in Kalpeshwar. Therefore, in these four places, Shri Kedarnath is also called Panch Kedar. Here are the magnificent temples of Shiva Ji.
Kedarnath Temple is 85 feet high and 187 feet wide. Its walls are 12 feet thick and are made with very strong stones. This temple is built on the basis of a strict style. Kedarnath Temple is situated at an altitude of 3462 meters. This temple is made up of 6 feet thick pops.
There are huge idols of five Pandavas including Draupadi in the courtyard of the temple. In the womb of the temple, the pointed rock is worshiped in the form of Lord Shiva.
Best Time to Visit Kedarnath:
The kapat of Kedarnath Temple open 15 days before Mesh Sankranthi. And is worshiped on the night Agahan Sankranti . On the day of Bhiyaduj, at 4:00 p.m. the Kadar Nath kapat is closed. After the closure is over, the Panchvata statue of Kedarnath is brought to the Ukhimuthi. This statue is worshiped here by Raval ji.
Kedarnath Temple Flood:
There was a sudden flood in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh in June 2013. Kedarnath Dham became more affected than this. This disaster was so horrible that hotels, hospices, destroyed around it were destroyed. But the main part of this historic temple and centuries old Gumbad is safe.
Even after the catastrophe, standing with the same magnificence of the temple is no less than surprising.
Even today people do not consider it less than a miracle. Due to the flood, large rocks came near the temple. Later, a large rock came and stopped the temple as a protective shield There is no harm to the temple due to this rock. After this the rock was named after Bhima Shila. This rock is just behind the temple.
Time to worship in Kedarnath Temple-
The temple of Kedarnath ji opens to the general public at 6:00 in the morning. There is a special pooja from 3:00 to 5:00 in the afternoon and after that the temple is closed for relaxation. And at 5:00 in the evening, the temple is opened for the devotees. After decoration of the statue of Lord Shiva, aarti is done daily from 7:30 to 8:30.
At night at 8:30 the Kedarnath temple is closed. To reach Kedarnath, it has to reach Gaurikund, 20 kilometers ahead, through Guptkashi to Rudraprayag.
