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Kedarnath Mandir is one of the holiest Hindu
temples dedicated to Lord Shiva and is
located atop the Garhwal Himalayan range
near the Mandakini river in Kedarnath,
Uttarakhand. Due to extreme weather
conditions, the temple is open only from the
end of April to Kartik Purnima (the autumn
full moon). During the winters, the murtis
(idols) from Kedarnath temple are brought to
Ukhimath and worshipped there for six
months. In this region, Lord Shiva is
worshipped as Kedarnath, the 'Lord of
KedarKhand', the historical name of the
This article is a researched article and borrows heavily from printed and electronic encyclopedias as well as material provided by our panel of research scholars, astrologers, academics and pundits.
KEDARNATHregion. This temple is a Paadal Petra
Sthalam (the 275 Holy Abodes of Shiva on
the continent), praised by the Tamil Nayanar
saints in the 6th-9th century BC. 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
t imes of Mahabharata, when the
Pandavaswere 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 head priest (Rawal) of the Kedarnath
temple belongs to the Veerashaiva
community. However, unlike in the
Badrinath temple, the Rawal of the
Kedarnath temple does not perform the
pujas. The pujas are carried out by the
Head Priest
Rawal's assistants on his instructions. The
Rawal moves along with the deity to
Ukhimath during the winter season. The
present Rawal of the Kedarnath temple is
ShriBhima Shankar Ling Shivacharya who
is one of the five Jagadgurus of (Shakti
Vishistadwaita philosophy) Veerashaiva.
As per the Shiva Mahapuranam, once, Lord
Brahma and Lord Vishnu had an argument
as to who was supreme. To test them, Shiva
pierced the three worlds with a huge endless
pillar of light, the jyotirlinga. While Vishnu
went downwards, Brahma went upwards to
find the end of this light. When they returned,
Brahma lied, stating that he had found the
end, while Vishnu conceded defeat. Shiva
appeared as a second pillar of light and
cursed Brahma that he would have no place
The Jyotirling Story
“Oh Lord, who resides in the great heights of Himalayas, Oh Lord, thou, who art worshipped forever by saints,
Hermits, Demons, Gods, Yakshas and Maha Nag (giant snakes), I bow and offer millions of Pranams.”
- Lord Sankaracharya
continued on page 11
The twelve jyothirlinga are Somnath in Gujarat, Mallikarjuna at Srisailam in Andra Pradesh, Mahakaleswar at Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, Omkareshwar in Madhya Pradesh, Kedarnath in Himalayas, Bhimashankar in Maharastra, Viswanath at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Triambakeshwar in Maharastra, Vaidyanath at Deogarh in Jharkand, Nageswar at Dwarka in Gujarat, Rameshwar at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu and Grishneshwar at Aurangabad in Maharastra.
u August 201210
12
in ceremonies while Vishnu would be
worshipped till the end of eternity.
The jyotirlinga is the supreme partless
reality, out of which Shiva partly appears.
The jyothirlinga shrines, thus are places
where Shiva appeared as a fiery column of
light. There were believed to be 64
jyothirlingas originally. Twelve of them are
considered very auspicious and holy. Each
of the twelve jyothirlinga sites takes the
n a m e o f t h e p r e s i d i n g d e i t y –
eachconsidered a different manifestation of
Shiva. At all these sites, the primary image is
the lingam, representing the beginning less
and endless Stambha pillar, symbolizing the
infinite nature of Shiva.
During the war between the Kauravas and
Pandavas, the Pandavas killed their own
kith and kin. In order to absolve themselves
of this sin, the Pandavas went on a
pilgrimage. But Lord Vishweshwara (of
Kashi – present day Varanasi) was away in
Kailasa in the Himalayas. On learning this,
the Pandavas left Kashi and reached the
Himalayas via Haridwar. They saw Lord
Shankara (another name for Lord Shiva)
from a distance. But Lord Shankara hid from
them.
Then Dharmaraj said: “Oh, Lord, You have
hidden yourself from our sight because we
have sinned. But, we will seek You out
somehow. Only after we take your darshan
would our sins be washed away. This place,
where You have hidden Yourself will be
known as Guptkashi and become a famous
shrine.”
From Guptakashi, the Pandavas went
Purana of Kedarnath
continued from page 10
To go to Kedarnath is not easy. One has to pass through dreadful, and life threatening circumstances to reach here.
u August 2012 11
Map indicating location of the twelve Jyotirling
ahead and reached Gaurikund in the
Himalayas valleys. They wandered there in
search of Lord Shankara. While doing so,
Nakul and Sahadev found a buffalo. It was
unique to look at.The buffalo was none other
than Lord Shankara but Bheema who didn’t
know this went after the buffalo with his
mace.
The buffalo was clever and Bheema could
not catch it. But Bheema managed to hit the
buffalo with his mace. The buffalo had its
face hidden in a crevicein the earth. Bheema
started to pull it by its tail. In this tug-of-war,
the face of the buffalo went straight to Nepal,
leaving its hind part in Kedar. The face of the
buffalo is known as Pashupatinath in Nepal.
(Here is the great Pashupatinath temple,
near Kathmandu).
On this hind part of Mahesha, a glorious
Jyotirlinga appeared. Lord Shankara
appeared from this great light before the
Pandavas. By attaining a darshan of Lord
Shankara, the Pandavas were absolved of
their sins. The Lord told the Pandavas,
“From now on, I will remain here as a
triangular shaped Jyotirlinga.”
Bheema was struck with remorse because
he had struck Lord Shiva (in the form of
Mahesha, the buffalo). He started to
massage Lord Shankara’s body with ghee.
In memory of this event, even today, this
triangular Shiva Jyotirlinga is massaged
with ghee. Shankara is worshipped here in
this manner.
Around the main Kedarnath temples, there
are many holy places. Behind the temple is
the samadhimandir of AdiSankara who is
believed to have left for his holy abode here,
when he was only 32 years old. The
Kedarnath temple is not directly accessible
by road and has to be reached by a 14 km
uphill trek from Gaurikund. Reaching
Kedarnath is not easy. One has to pass
through dreadful and life-threatening
circumstances to reach the place.
u August 2012 13
Shiva lingam is the holy symbol
of Lord Shiva that is considered
sacred and worshipped with
devotion by the devotees. The
sanskrit word li.ngam means
symbol, so shiva lingam means
symbo l o f sh i va . I t i s
considered the foremost
sacred symbol for shaivaites
and has been worshiped for
ages. The puranas like shivamahapuranam discuss about the superiority of li.nga
worship. (The Indus valley excavation is an example for the presence of this
worship in olden times.)
God is formless, attribute-less and omnipresent. This state is called arupa
(formless). For the benefit of the pashus, He took the form of shiva lingam which is
neither form nor formless but is a symbol. This symbol of Him is called
aruparupam (formless form). He took many forms out of His mercy to bless all,
which are called rupams.
This shivalinga worship is superior because it makes the worship simple because
of the form while maintaining the truth that God is not having any definite form.
continued from page 12
In Kedarnath you will find sadhus in hordes.Two type of Sadhus that can be seen mainly in Kedarnath
and Kashi are the Naga sadhus as well as the Agora sadhus.
Shiva Lingam
u August 201212
continued from page 11
Sri Somnath Temple
Sri Omkareshwar Mamaleshwaram Temple Sri Vaidyanath Temple Sri Naganath Temple
Sri MallikarjunaTemple Sri Mahakaleshwar Temple
Sri Kedarnath Temple Sri Tryambakeshwar Temple Sri Rameshwar Temple
Sri Bhimashankar Temple Kashi Sri Vishweshwar Sri Grishneshwar Temple