You are on the page: Home pagePhoto galleries of IndiaUttarakhand

20000 photos of India, 1280õ960

Uttarakhand photos


Kedarnath temple – photo gallery

Trekking from Gaurikund to Kedarnath

Haridwar       Rishikesh       Devprayag       Rudraprayag

Badrinath       Gangotri       Yamunotri
kedarnath035 kedarnath039 kedarnath001 kedarnath002 kedarnath003 kedarnath004 kedarnath005 kedarnath006
kedarnath007 kedarnath008 kedarnath009 kedarnath010 kedarnath011 kedarnath012 kedarnath013 kedarnath014
Shankaracharya-dandi
kedarnath015 kedarnath016 kedarnath017 kedarnath018 kedarnath019 kedarnath020 kedarnath021 kedarnath022 kedarnath023 kedarnath024 kedarnath025 kedarnath026 kedarnath027 kedarnath028 kedarnath029 kedarnath030
kedarnath031 kedarnath032 kedarnath033 kedarnath034 kedarnath036 kedarnath037 kedarnath038 kedarnath040 kedarnath041 kedarnath042 kedarnath043 kedarnath044 kedarnath045 kedarnath046 kedarnath047 kedarnath048 kedarnath049 kedarnath050 kedarnath051 kedarnath052 kedarnath053 kedarnath054 kedarnath055 kedarnath056
kedarnath057 kedarnath058 kedarnath059 kedarnath060 kedarnath061 kedarnath062 kedarnath063 kedarnath064 kedarnath065 kedarnath066 kedarnath067 kedarnath068 kedarnath069 kedarnath070 kedarnath071 kedarnath072
Shankaracharya temple
kedarnath075 kedarnath076 kedarnath077 kedarnath078

kedarnath073 kedarnath074 kedarnath079 kedarnath080 kedarnath081 kedarnath082 kedarnath083 kedarnath084 kedarnath097 kedarnath098 kedarnath099 kedarnath100 kedarnath101 kedarnath102 kedarnath103 kedarnath104 kedarnath105 kedarnath106 kedarnath107 kedarnath108 kedarnath109 kedarnath110 kedarnath111 kedarnath112 kedarnath113 kedarnath114 kedarnath115 kedarnath116 kedarnath117 kedarnath118 kedarnath119 kedarnath120 kedarnath121 kedarnath122 kedarnath123 kedarnath124 kedarnath125 kedarnath127 kedarnath126 kedarnath128 kedarnath129 kedarnath130 kedarnath131 kedarnath132 kedarnath133 kedarnath134 kedarnath135 kedarnath136 kedarnath137 kedarnath138 kedarnath139 kedarnath140 kedarnath141 kedarnath142 kedarnath143 kedarnath144 kedarnath145 kedarnath146 kedarnath147 kedarnath148 kedarnath149 kedarnath150 kedarnath151 kedarnath152 kedarnath153 kedarnath154 kedarnath155 kedarnath156 kedarnath157 kedarnath158 kedarnath159 kedarnath250 kedarnath160 kedarnath161 kedarnath162 kedarnath163 kedarnath164 kedarnath165 kedarnath166 kedarnath167 kedarnath168 kedarnath169 kedarnath170 kedarnath171 kedarnath172 kedarnath173 kedarnath174 kedarnath175
kedarnath173

   Kedarnath temple is a Hindu temple in Himalayas dedicated to Lord Shiva. It is on the Garhwal Himalayan range near the Mandakini river in Kedarnath, Uttarakhand state, India. 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.

   The temple is not directly accessible by road and has to be reached by a 14 kilometres uphill trek from Gaurikund. Pony and manchan service is available to reach Kedarnath village. According to Hindu legends, the temple was initially built by Pandavas, and is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, the holiest Hindu shrines of Shiva. It is one of the 275 Paadal Petra Sthalams, expounded in Tevaram. 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. This temple is the highest among the 12 Jyotirlingas. 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.

   The temple, at a height of 3,583 m (11,755 ft), 223 km from Rishikesh, on the shores of Mandakini river, a tributary of Ganga, is a stone edifice of unknown date. It is not certain who built the original Kedarnath temple and when. The name "Kedarnath" means "the lord of the field": it derives from the Sanskrit words kedara ("field") and natha ("lord"). The text Kashi Kedara Mahatmya states that it is so called because "the crop of liberation" grows here.

   According to a mythological account, the god Shiva agreed to dwell here at the request of Nara-Narayana. After the Kurukshetra War, the Pandava brothers, came here to meet Shiva on the advice of the sage Vyasa, because they wanted to seek forgiveness for killing their kin during the war. However, Shiva did not want to forgive them. So, he turned into a bull and hid among the cattle on the hill. When the Pandavas managed to track him, he tried to disappear by sinking himself head-first into the ground. One of the brothers grabbed his tail, forcing him to appear before them and forgive them. The Pandava brothers then built the first temple at Kedarnath. The portions of Shiva's body later appeared at four other locations; and collectively, these five places came to be known as the five Kedaras ("Panch Kedar"); the head of the bull appeared at the location of the Pashupatinath Temple in present-day Nepal.

   The Mahabharata, which gives the account of the Pandavas and the Kurukshetra War, does not mention any place called Kedarnath. One of the earliest references to Kedarnath occurs in the Skanda Purana (c. 7th-8th century), which contains a myth describing the origin of the Ganges river. The text names Kedara (Kedarnath) as the place where Shiva released the holy water from his matted hair.

   According to the hagiographies 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 (Kanchipuram). The ruins of a monument marking the purported death place of Shankara are located at Kedarnath. 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.