Temples in Kedarnath
Kedarnath Temple
Kedarnath Temple
This Lord Siva temple at Kedanath is said to have been built by the Pandavas to atone for their sins procured during the Kurukshetra war. It is believed that this temple was originally constructed by the Pandavas, and the present temple was reconstructed by Sankara carya in the 8th century. One of the 12 jyotirlingas is in this temple. The temple is dedicated to Lord Sada Siva and is considered to be one of the major Siva temples in India.
Inside the temple there is an irregular three-faced linga, representing the hump of Lord Siva when he took the form of a bull. It is about 9 ft long, 3 feet wide, and 4 feet high. Pilgrims are allowed to touch the linga, perform worship, abhishika (bath), and massage the linga with ghee. There are deities of goddess Parvati and Ganesh in front of the main altar door. Outside the second door are Lord Krishna, the five Pandavas, their wife Draupadi, and their mother, Kunti. In the temple is a Laksmi-Narayana Deity which was installed by Adi Sankaracarya.
The temple faces south, which is an unique feature, as most temples face east. This temple is very solidly built. The temple opens the first week of May and closes either the last week of October or the first week of November. May-June is the busiest time of the year. Worship of Sri Kedarnath is continued at Okhimath in the winter by the priest from the Kardarnath Temple.
The waiting time to enter the temple in the afternoon is about 15 minutes, otherwise if you go at 7am the waiting time may be two hours or more.
Gaurikund
Gaurikund is said to be the place where Gaurimata (Parvati) took birth and did austerities for hundreds of year to be able to marry Lord Siva. lt is 2l0km from Rishikesh and 334 km from Gangotri. Gaurikund is the last bus stop on the way to Kedarnath.
There is a hot sulphur water spring here, also named Gaurikund, where you can take bath. It said to mark the place where Parvati did austerities. It is a great place to take bath after returning from your walk to Kedarnath. Next to the springs is a Gauri Devi Temple, dedicated to Parvati.
There is a temple called Sirkata Ganesh, the beheaded Ganesh, about a half km from Gaurikund. The Skanda Purana says this was the place where Lord Siva beheaded his son Ganesh and then gave him an elephant head. The story says that Ganesh was guarding his mother, Parvati, who was bathing it Gaurikund. When Siva came, he was stopped by Ganesh. Siva, not recognizing his own son, then became angry and cut off the head of Ganesh. When Parvati found out this had happened, she requested Siva to bring him back to life and give him another head. Siva said he would give him the head of the first creature that came by, which happened to be an elephant So he gave Ganesh the head of an elephant.
Panch (Five) Kedars
Parts of Lord Siva's body appeared at five places in the Kedarnath area. It is said that the Pandavas built temples at each of these places-Kedarnath, Madhyamaheswara, Rudranath, Tungnath, and Kalpeswara They are at altitudes from 1,500 to 3,680m. It takes about 14 days to go to all five places. They can all be reached by a long circular trek. For the most part you have to walk from temple to temple. A bus leaves Gaurikund, near Kedarnath, every morning at 5 am and stops at access points for the Panch Kedar temples. A. local bus goes between Gopeswara and Guptakashi.
You start at Kedarnath. From there you return to Guptakashi and then go to Ukhimath and continue on to Mansuna village. From Mansuna village it is a 24 km trek to Madhyamaheswara (3,497m), which is 30 km from Guptakashi. You can stop at Ransi overnight, and then you go to Gondhar (3 km) and climb 10 km to Madhyamaheswara.The temple here is a small stone temple dedicated to the middle (madhya) part of the bull-Siva.
Tungnath (3,680 m or 12,065 ft) is the highest (in altitude) temple in India. It s surrounded by striking mountains such as Neelkanth, Kerdarnath, and Nanda Devi. The Siva temple here is on a stone paved platform overlooking a cliff.Tungnath represents the arm of Lord Siva. There are five silver faces of the Pandavas along with deities of Vyasadeva and Kalabhairava in the temple. There is a small Parvati temple here. You got here by trekking from Chopta (7 km, 4 hr), which is 37 km from Ukhimath. At Chopta there is a GMVN Tourist Bungalow that has rooms with attached baths.
To get to Kalpeswara Temple (2100m), you first travel by bus to the village of Helang, 14 km south of Joshimath. From Helang you walk 9 km to the village of Urgam, which has basic accommodation and food. From there it is a 1.5 km walk to Kalpeswara Temple, Which is dedicated to the jata (hair) of Lord Siva. It is rock temple that is entered through a cave.
Next you go to Gopeswara by road and then to Sagar. From there it is a 24 km trek to Rudranath, dedicated to the mouth of Lord Siva. The Rudraganga flows by this temple. There are some good views of the Trisul, Nandadevi, and Parbat peaks and down below there are small lakes. To get to Rudranath you can also walk from Kalpeswara.
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