Sree Kedarnath Temple -Kēdāranātha Mandira, lit. 'temple of the lord of the field'), is a Hindu temple (shrine) dedicated to Shiva .Located on the Garhwal Himalayan range near the Mandakini river, Kedarnath is located in the state of Uttarakhand.
Due to extreme weather conditions, the temple
is open to the general public only between the months of April (Akshaya
Tritiya) and
November (Kartik Purnima, the autumn full moon).
During the winters, the Vigraha
(deity) from Kedarnath temple is carried down to Ukhimath and where the deity is
worshiped for the next six months. Kedarnath is seen as a homogenous form
of Shiva, the 'Lord of Kedarkhand',
the historical name of the region.
The temple is not directly
accessible by road and has to be reached by a 22 kilometres (14 mi)
uphill trek from Gaurikund. Pony
and manchan service is available to reach the temple.
According to Hindu legends, the temple was
initially built by Pandavas, and is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, the holiest Hindu shrines of Shiva. 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 and is the first of the Panch Kedar pilgrimage sites.
This temple is the highest among
the 12 Jyotirlingas. Kedarnath was the worst affected area during
the 2013
flash floods in North India, since resurrected to the past glory.
A
difficult place to reach indeed. But even seeing the videos of the temple will
give a spiritual high to the devotee and if one is able to visit, nothing will
be comparable to that experience
( I have seen only the videos. Our PM had a
retreat their two years back, when he stayed in a Kutir near the temple, like a
Sanyasi, meditating for a day or two. Those videos gave a closer look of the
area/temple etc.)
List of 12 Jyotirlingas
- Somnath – Gir Somnath In Gujarat
- Nageshwar – Daarukavanam In Gujarat
- Bhimashankar – Pune In
Maharashtra
- Trimbakeshwar - Nashik
In Maharashtra
- Grishneshwar – Aurangabad In Maharashtra
- Vaidyanath – Deoghar In Jharkhand
- Mahakaleshwar – Ujjain
In Madhya Pradesh
- Omkareshwar – Khandwa In Madhya Pradesh
- Kashi Vishwanath -Varanasi
In Uttar Pradesh
- Kedarnath – Kedarnath In Uttarakhand
- Rameshwaram –
Rameswaram Island In Tamil Nadu
- Mallikarjuna – Srisailam In Andhra Pradesh
गुरुर्ब्रह्मा ग्रुरुर्विष्णुः गुरुर्देवो महेश्वरः । गुरुः साक्षात् परं ब्रह्म तस्मै श्री गुरवे नमः ॥
Be happy. Be safe.
ॐ तत् सत्
6 AM
Wow! Quite useful information about 12 holy Jyotirlingas.
ReplyDeleteVisited Kedarnath shrine 28 years back by climbing mountain for 14 kms from Gaurikund. A picturesque site at the top of mountain where some might experience breathing problem. It’s said that it’s ardhnarishwar form of lord Shiva and other half is in Pashupatinath. Nageshwar temple located in Himachal is surrounded by forest whereas Nageshwar temple in Gujarat is on plains. Haven’t visited one located in Jharkhand. Regards
Beautiful 👍👍👍👍
ReplyDelete🙏🙏🙏🙏l had visited there abode of Lord Shiva.
ReplyDeleteHappy Guru poornima.
Informative ,educative and revealing.
ReplyDeleteLet such blogs be converted into books.
Regards.
Went back to 80s when I visited with my parents to Badrinath. A great experience and ice cold water of river Alakananda. 👍👍🙏
ReplyDeleteExtremely good reading. Yes, going to Kedarnath is undoubtedly a difficult thing for all, young and old. Despite lot of obstacles like landslides, biting cold weather even in peak summer months, if devotees managed to reach for darshan, it is only God has willed it that way.
ReplyDeleteI should consider being lucky or fortunate in having Lord Shiva's darshan at Keadar in 201O or so. The landscape full of snow clad icy mountain tops and people of all ages mingling together and finding themselves to keep warm with hot samosas and cups of tea is a sight to watch. Here, people sipping 2 to 3 cups of tea is quite common as besides smaller cups, shopkeepers know everyone has to take lots of hot liquids to keep warm.
Raghuraman