Kedarnath Temple

 

Kedarnath Temple: Lord Shiva freed the Pandavas from sin by taking the form of a buffalo, such is the story of Kedarnath temple : According to religious beliefs, Kedarnath Temple is considered to be the 11th among the twelve Jyotirlingas. Also it is one of the holiest pilgrimages. 

 It is said that the story of Kedarnath Dham is very unique and interesting. Kedarnath Temple is a Hindu temple of Lord Shankar. This temple is built on the banks of river Mandakini in Kedarnath village of Uttarakhand state of India. Kedarnath is one of the holiest places in Hinduism and is considered one of the 12 Jyotirlingas as well as Panchkedar and Chhota Dham. Located in the Himalayas, the Kedarnath temple is believed to have been built by the Pandavas, while Adya Shankaracharya revived this temple. Kedarnath is located at the highest elevation of all Jyotirlingas and is accessible only by footpath. Kedarnath Temple can only be visited after an arduous journey of 14 kilometers from Gaurikund. This temple is open only during the period of Akshaya Tritiya to Kartik Poornima and in winter the idols of the deities are brought to Ukhimath and worshiped there. In the devastating floods of Uttarakhand in 2013, the village of Kedarnath was completely washed away and the temple premises were also heavily damaged. But the stone Kedarnath temple was not affected. Located 223 km from Rishikesh at an elevation of 11,755 on the banks of the Mandakini River, a tributary of the Ganges, the temple is a stone building of unknown date. It is not certain who and when the original Kedarnath temple was built. The name "Kedarnath" means "lord of the field": it is derived from the Sanskrit words kedar ("field") and nath ("lord"). The text Kashi Kedara Mahatmya states that it is so called because the "crop of liberation" grows here. In Garhwal region, there are many folklores related to the creation of Lord Shiva and Panch Kedar temples. A folk tale about Panch Kedar is related to the Pandavas, the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahabharata. In the epic Kurukshetra war, the Pandavas defeated and killed their cousins - the Kauravas. They had to atone for the sins of fratricide (Gotrahatya) and Brahmin (Brahmin - priestly class) during the war. Thus, he handed over the reins of his kingdom to his relatives and left in search of Lord Shiva and seeking his blessings. First, they went to the holy city of Varanasi (Kashi), considered to be Shiva's favorite city and known for the Kashi Vishwanath Temple. But Shiva wanted to avoid them because he was so enraged by the deaths and dishonesty of the Kurukshetra war that he was insensitive to the prayers of the Pandavas. So, he assumed the form of a bull (Nandi) and hid in the Garhwal region. Not finding Shiva in Varanasi, the Pandavas went to the Garhwal Himalayas. Bhima, the second of the five Pandava brothers, then stood on two mountains and began searching for Shiva. He saw a bull grazing near Guptkashi ("Hidden Kashi" - the name derives from Shiva's act of concealment). Bhima immediately recognized the bull as Shiva. Bhima caught the bull by its tail and hind legs. But Shiva in the form of a bull disappears into the ground and then reappears in parts, in Kedarnath raising a hump, arms seen in Tungnath, face seen in Rudranath, navel (navel) in Madhyamhesvara and stomach surface and hair. In Kalpeswar. The Pandavas, pleased with this reappearance in five different forms, built temples at five places to worship and worship Shiva A version of the story credits Bhima with not only catching the bull but also stopping it from disappearing. As a result, the bull was cut into five pieces and found at five locations in Kedarkhand, Garhwal region of the Himalayas.[9] After building the Pancha Kedar temples, the Pandavas meditated at Kedarnath for salvation, performed Yajna (fire sacrifice) and then attained Swarga or Moksha through the celestial path of Mahapanth (also called Swargarohini). The Panch Kedar temples, similar in appearance to the Kedarnath, Tungnath and Madhyamaheshwar temples, are built in the North-Indian Himalayan temple architecture. After completing the Yatra for Lord Shiva's darshan in the Panch Kedar temples, it is an unwritten religious ritual to have Lord Vishnu's darshan at the Badrinath Temple, the devotee seeking Lord Shiva's blessings as a final corroborative proof. There is no mention of any place called Kedarnath in the Mahabharata, which gives an account of the Pandava and Kurukshetra war. The earliest reference to Kedarnath is found in the Skanda Purana (7th–8th century AD), which describes the origin of the river Ganges. The text refers to Kedara (Kedarnath) as the place where Shiva released holy water from his matted hair. According to a hagiography based on Madhva's Rebsha-Sankara-Vijaya, the 8th-century philosopher Adi Shankara died in the mountains near Kedarnath; Other hagiographies based on Anandagiri's Prachina-Sankara-Vijaya state that Jari died at Kanchipuram. Remains of a monument marking the place of Shankara's alleged death are at Kedarnath. Kedarnath was definitely a major pilgrimage site by the 12th century, when it is mentioned in the Ktytha-Kalpataru written by the Gahadwala minister Bhatta Lakshmidhar. The Kedarnath Tirtha Purohitas are the ancient Brahmins of the region, their forefathers (Rishi-Muni) have been worshiping the Linga since the time of Nara-Narayana. King Janamejaya, the grandson of the Pandavas, gave them the right to worship this temple and pilgrims have been worshiping it ever since. According to a tradition recorded by the English mountaineer Eric Shipton (1926), "many hundreds of years ago" a priest served at both the Kedarnath and Badrinath temples, making daily trips to both.