Kedarnath ji temple is one of the 12 Jyortilangam of Lord Shiva. It is situated in the Rudraprayag District of the North Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is also one of the four Dham of Uttarakhand and is the most difficult to reach due to high altitude and tough terrain. It is located about 3,583 m (11,755 ft) above sea level near Chorabari Glacier, the head of river Mandakini, and is flanked by snow-capped peaks.
Since the time immemorial, this place has been attracting the devotees who come every year in large numbers to pay homage to Lord Shiva.
Due to extreme weather conditions, the temple is open only between the end of April (Akshaya Tritriya) to November (Kartik Purnima - the autumn full moon). During the winters, the vigrahas (deities) from Kedarnath temple are brought to Ukhimath and worshipped there for six months. Lord Shiva is worshipped as Kedarnath, the 'Lord of Kedar Khand', the historical name of the region.
Kedarnath temple is the highest among the 12 Jyotirlingas. The temple is not directly accessible by road and has to be reached by a 18 kilometres (11 mi) uphill trek from Gaurikund. Pony and Palaki service is available to reach the temple.
According to the hagiographies [A biography that idealizes or idolizes the person (especially a person who is a saint)] based on Madhava's Sankshepa-shankara-vijaya, the 8th century philosopher Adi Shankara died at Kedaranatha (Kedarnath); although other hagiographies, based on Anandagiri's Prachina-Shankara-Vijaya, state that he died at Kanchi. The ruins of a monument (Samadhi) marking the purported death place of Shankara are located at Kedarnath. [ In the flood of 2013, the aforesaid Samadhi was destroyed completely. As of now, it is not possible to visit it as there has been no indication of the place where the said Samadhi was located]
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.
Thousands of pilgrims (including children) lost their lives in the incident and of many got carried away in the huge flow of water. Given the huge reverence of Kedarnath ji, this accident was considered a national tragedy as people from all walks of life and from all over India died in the incident. As there was no system of official registration of the pilgrims at that time, it remained a big challenge to estimate the actual numbers of causalities. It was a very unfortunate incident in the history of religious pilgrimage in India.
Despite this unfortunate incident, the faith of people in the temple has remained intact. There has been a huge rush of pilgrims to visit the temple since then. The government has also taken serious steps to restore the past glory of the temple. The new on-foot track is now 21 Km long and is considered relatively safe. There has been constructions of permanent structure around the area under the strict supervision of the government. The registration of all the pilgrims has been made compulsory through their Adhaar Card to ensure biometric verification in case of any mis-happening.
In the coming posts, I shall be discussing the best way to reach Kedarnath.
Note: Some of the information for this article has been taken from wikipedia.
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| Chardham location in the map. |
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| Kedarnath ji Temple |
Since the time immemorial, this place has been attracting the devotees who come every year in large numbers to pay homage to Lord Shiva.
Due to extreme weather conditions, the temple is open only between the end of April (Akshaya Tritriya) to November (Kartik Purnima - the autumn full moon). During the winters, the vigrahas (deities) from Kedarnath temple are brought to Ukhimath and worshipped there for six months. Lord Shiva is worshipped as Kedarnath, the 'Lord of Kedar Khand', the historical name of the region.
Kedarnath temple is the highest among the 12 Jyotirlingas. The temple is not directly accessible by road and has to be reached by a 18 kilometres (11 mi) uphill trek from Gaurikund. Pony and Palaki service is available to reach the temple.
History
Kedarnath has been a pilgrimage centre since the ancient times, although it is not exactly known as to who constructed the original Kedarnath temple and when. A mythological account ascribes the temple's construction to the legendary Pandava brothers mentioned in the Mahabharata. However, the Mahabharata does not mention any place called Kedarnath. One of the earliest references to Kedarnath occurs in the Skanda Purana (c. 7th-8th century), which names Kedara (Kedarnath) as the place where Shiva released the holy water from his matted hair, resulting in the formation of the Ganges river.According to the hagiographies [A biography that idealizes or idolizes the person (especially a person who is a saint)] based on Madhava's Sankshepa-shankara-vijaya, the 8th century philosopher Adi Shankara died at Kedaranatha (Kedarnath); although other hagiographies, based on Anandagiri's Prachina-Shankara-Vijaya, state that he died at Kanchi. The ruins of a monument (Samadhi) marking the purported death place of Shankara are located at Kedarnath. [ In the flood of 2013, the aforesaid Samadhi was destroyed completely. As of now, it is not possible to visit it as there has been no indication of the place where the said Samadhi was located]
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.
Kedarnath flood of 2013
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. A large rock among the debris acted as a barrier, protecting the temple from the flood. The surrounding premises and other buildings in market area were heavily damaged
Thousands of pilgrims (including children) lost their lives in the incident and of many got carried away in the huge flow of water. Given the huge reverence of Kedarnath ji, this accident was considered a national tragedy as people from all walks of life and from all over India died in the incident. As there was no system of official registration of the pilgrims at that time, it remained a big challenge to estimate the actual numbers of causalities. It was a very unfortunate incident in the history of religious pilgrimage in India.
Despite this unfortunate incident, the faith of people in the temple has remained intact. There has been a huge rush of pilgrims to visit the temple since then. The government has also taken serious steps to restore the past glory of the temple. The new on-foot track is now 21 Km long and is considered relatively safe. There has been constructions of permanent structure around the area under the strict supervision of the government. The registration of all the pilgrims has been made compulsory through their Adhaar Card to ensure biometric verification in case of any mis-happening.
In the coming posts, I shall be discussing the best way to reach Kedarnath.
Note: Some of the information for this article has been taken from wikipedia.
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