Shri Kedarnath Temple

श्री केदारनाथ मन्दिर

Location

Kedarnath, Uttarakhand

Darshan

04:00 – 20:30

Deity

🪔Lord Shiva (Kedarnath)

Entry

Free entry

General public: 06:00–15:00 and 17:00–20:30. Afternoon closure: 15:00–17:00. Evening close: 19:00–20:30. No entry fee. Yatra E-Pass mandatory (free, registrationandtouristcare.uk.gov.in).

Temple open May–November only. Closed December–April; deity worshipped at Ukhimath (Omkareshwar Temple) in winter.

The highest-altitude Jyotirlinga at 3,583m in the Garhwal Himalayas. Also the first of the Panch Kedar pilgrimage and part of the Uttarakhand Char Dham circuit. The temple is believed to have been built by the Pandavas after the Mahabharata war to atone for gotra-hatya (killing of kin). The Jyotirlinga is the sacred hump (prushtha) of the divine bull (Nandi) in which Shiva hid from the Pandavas. The nearby Bhim Shila boulder (which deflected the 2013 floodwaters) is venerated as divine protection.

History

Pandava tradition attributes the original temple to the post-Kurukshetra War era. Adi Shankaracharya (~8th century CE) revived and restructured the temple; his samadhi monument is behind the main shrine. Geological studies confirm the temple was covered in glacial ice for ~400 years during the Little Ice Age (~1300–1900 CE) yet survived structurally intact. The catastrophic 2013 Kedarnath flash flood devastated the surrounding town; a large boulder (Bhim Shila) lodged behind the temple and diverted the floodwaters, saving the structure. The temple reopened in October 2013.

Mythology

After the Kurukshetra War, the Pandavas sought Lord Shiva's blessings to atone for killing relatives. Shiva eluded them, disguising himself as a bull at Guptakashi. When Bhima spread his legs across two mountains and seized the bull's hump, Shiva relented. The five body parts of Shiva that appeared at five sacred spots became the Panch Kedar: the hump at Kedarnath, arms at Tungnath, face at Rudranath, navel at Madhyamaheshwar, and matted hair at Kalpeshwar. The triangular saddle-shaped Jyotirlinga represents this divine hump.