Kedarnath Temple
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| Kedarnath Temple | |
|---|---|
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| Coordinates: | 30°44′N 79°4′ECoordinates: 30°44′N 79°4′E |
| Name | |
| Proper name: | Kedarnath |
| Sanskrit transliteration: | all |
| Tamil: | all |
| Marathi: | all |
| Bengali: | all |
| Location | |
| Country: | India |
| State: | Uttarakhand |
| Location: | Kedarnath |
| Temple Details | |
| Primary Deity: | Kedarnath, 'Lord of Kedar Khand' (Shiva) |
Kēdārnāth Mandir (Kedarnath Temple) is one of the holiest Hindu temples dedicated to the god Shiva and is located on the Garhwal Himalayan range near the Mandakini river in Kedarnath, Uttarakhand in India. Due to extreme weather conditions, the temple is open only between the end of April (Akshaya Tritriya) to Kartik Purnima (the autumn full moon, usually November) every year. 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.[1]
The temple is not directly accessible by road and has to be reached by a 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) uphill trek from Gaurikund. Pony and manchan service is also available. The temple is believed to have been built by Pandavas and revived by Adi Sankaracharya 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 also one of the four major sites in India's Chota Char Dhampilgrimage of Northern Himalayas.
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 remained unharmed to a large extent.[2]
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[hide]Temple and significance[edit]
The temple, located at an height of 3,583 m (11,755 ft), 223 km from Rishikesh, on the shores of Mandakini river, a tributary ofGanges, is an impressive stone edifice of unknown date.[3] The structure is believed to have been constructed in 8th Century AD, when Adi Shankara visited this place and the present structure is on a site adjacent to the site where Pandavas are believed to have built the temple.[1] The temple has on Garbhagriha and a Mandapa and stands on a plateau surrounded by snow clad mountain and glaciers. In front of the temple, directly opposite to inner shrine, is a Nandi statue carved out of rock.[1]
Hindu mythology[edit]
According to Hindu mythology, during the Mahabharatha war, the Pandavas killed their relatives; in order to absolve themselves of this sin, the Pandavas undertook a pilgrimage. But Lord Vishweshwara was away in Kailasa in the Himalayas. On learning this, the Pandavas left Kashi. They reached the Himalayas via Haridwar. They saw Lord Shankara 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 Guptakashi and become a famous shrine.”
From Guptakashi (Rudraprayag), the Pandavas went ahead till they reached Gaurikund in the Himalayas valleys. They wandered there in search of Lord Shankara. While doing so Nakul and Sahadev found a he-buffalo which was unique to look at.
Then Bheema 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 crevice-in 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 Doleshwar Mahadev located in Sipatol, Bhaktapur, Nepal.[4][5][6]
On this hind part of Mahesha, a JyotirLinga appeared and Lord Shankara appeared from this light. By getting a Darshan of Lord Shankar, the pandavas were absolved of their sins. The Lord told the Pandavas, “From now on, I will remain here as a triangular shaped JyotirLinga. By taking a Darshan of Kedarnath, devotees would attain piety”. A traingular shaped rock is worshipped in Garbhagriha of the temple. Surrounding Kedarnath, there are many symbols of the Pandavas. Raja Pandu died at Pandukeshwar. The tribals here perform a dance called “Pandav Nritya”.[citation needed] The mountain top where the Pandavas went to Swarga, is known as “Swargarohini”, which is located off Badrinath. When Darmaraja was leaving for Swarga, one of his fingers fell on the earth. At that place, Dharmaraj installed a Shiva Linga, which is the size of the thumb. To gain Mashisharupa, Shankara and Bheema fought with maces. Bheema was struck with remorse. 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. Water and Bel leaves are used for worship.
When Nara-Narayan went to Badrika village and started the worship of Parthiva, Shiva appeared before them. Nara-Narayan wished that for the welfare of the humanity, Shiva should remain there in his original form. Granting their wish, in the snow-clad Himalayas, in a place called Kedar, Mahesha himself stayed there as a Jyoti. Here, He is known as Kedareshwara.
Inside temple[edit]
The first hall inside the temple contains statues of the five Pandava brothers, Lord Krishna, Nandi, the vehicle of Shiva and Virabhadra, one of the guards of Shiva. Statue of Draupadi and other deities are also installed in the main hall. A medium sized conical rough stone formation is worhispped in the Garbagruha of Kedarnath temple and considered as Sadashiva form of Lord Shiva.[1] An unusual feature of the temple is the head of a man carved in the triangular stone fascia of the temple. Such a head is seen carved in another temple nearby constructed on the site where the marriage of Shiva and Parvati was held. Adi Shankara was believed to have revived this temple, along with Badrinath and other temples of Uttarakhand and he is believed to have attained mahasamadhi at Kedaranath. Behind the temple is the samādhi mandir of Adi Sankara.[7]
Head priest[edit]
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The head priest (Rawal) of the Kedarnath temple belongs to the Veerashaiva jangam community from Karnataka.[8] However, unlike in Badrinath temple, the Rawal of Kedarnath temple does not perform the pujas. The pujas are carried out by Rawal's assistants on his instructions. The Rawal moves along with the deity to Ukhimath during the winter season. There are five main priests for the temple, and they become head priests for a term of one year by rotation and the present (2013) Rawal of Kedarnath temple is Shri Vageesha Lingacharya.[8] Shri Vageesh Ligaacharya belongs to Village Banuvalli of Taluka Harihar of Davanagere dist. During Pooja of Lord Shiva at Kedaranath the mantras will be pronounced in Kannada language. This has been a custom from hundreds of years( Source.TV-9 Kannada telecast on 26.06.2013)[citation needed]
Administration[edit]
The temple was included in the Uttar Pradesh state government Act No. 30/1948 as Act no. 16,1939, which later came to be known as Shri Badarinath and Shri Kedarnath Mandir Act. The committee nominated by the state government administers both the temples. The act was modified in 2002, which provisioned adding additional committee members including Government officials and a Vice chairman.[9] There are a total of seventeen members in the board; three selected by the Uttaranchal Legislative Assembly, one member each by the Zilla Parishads of Garhwa, Tehri, Chamoli and Uttarkashi, and ten members nominated by the state government.[10] On the religious side, there is a Rawalji (chief priest) and three other priests namely, Nayab Rawal, Acharya/Dharmadhikari and Vedpathi.[11] The administrative structure of the temple consists of a chief executive officer who executes the orders from the state government. A deputy chief executive officer, two OSDs, an executive officer, an account officer, a temple officer and a publicity officer assist the chief executive officer.[12]
2013 flash floods[edit]
Main article: 2013 North India floods
The Kedarnath valley, along with other parts of the state of Uttarakhand, was hit with unprecedented flash floods on 16 and 17 June 2013. On June 16, 2013, at about 7:30 p.m. a landslide and mudslides occurred near Kedarnath Temple with loud peals of thunder. An enormously loud peal was heard and huge amount of waters started gushing from Chorabari Tal or Gandhi Tal down Mandakini river at about 8:30 p.m. washing everything away in its path. The next day on the 17th of June, 2013 at about 6:40 a.m. in the morning waters again started cascading at a huge speed from river Swaraswati and Chorabari Tal or Gandhi Tal bringing along with its flow huge amount of silt, rocks and boulders. A huge boulder got stuck behind Baba Kedarnath Temple and protected it from the ravages of the flood's fury. The flood waters gushed on both the sides of the temple destroying everything in their path. Another theory that is told about the story of the temple not being destroyed is of the construction of the temple. [13][14][15][16]Although the temple withstood the severity of the floods, the temple complex and surrounding area were destroyed, resulting in the death of hundreds of pilgrims and locals. Shops and hotels in Kedarnath were destroyed and all roads were broken. A number of people took shelter inside the temple for several hours, until Indian army airlifted them to safer places.[8] The Uttarakhand Chief Minister announced that the Kedarnath shrine would remain closed for a year for clearing the debris around the shrine.[17][18][19]
Some eye witness observed that, one large rock that got carried up to the temple in flood water and settled at the rear side of the Kedarnath Temple, thus causing obstruction to the debris, diverting the flow to the sides of the temple avoiding possible damage.
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