Lord Shiva Temple at Kedarnath in Himalayas in India

All the worshippers of Lord Shiva have a hearty desire to visit lord Shiva temple of Kedarnath in the Himalaya Mountains. Kedarnath is one of the places of pilgrimage in the famous four dham pilgrimage. Kedarnath is one of the twelve swayambhoo Jyotirlingams of lord Shiva. The pilgrimage to Kedarnath is the most difficult out of the 4 dham pilgrimage. It is also situated at the highest level of 11600 feet from the mean sea level, considering all the four dhams in Himalayas. The pilgrimage to Kedarnath remains open only in summer months of May to October.

The famous pilgrimage to Kedarnath starts from Haridwar, which is well connected by train, air and bus from all the major cities of Northern India. It is advisable to visit Kedarnath through organized travel company so as to get all the facilities without any hassle or tension. You have to travel by road via Rishikesh, Devprayag, Rudraprayag, and Rampur, finally reaching to Gauri Kund. The cars and buses can only go up to Gauri Kund. You will be required to walk distance of around 8 miles on extremely hilly roads from Gauri Kund to reach Kedarnath temple. The other options for covering this distance of 8 miles are to travel on pony or on dolly. However, pony riding can prove equally difficult if you are not used to horse riding. We had reached Gauri Kund at around 8 am and started our walking at around 9 am. Some of us preferred the pony and the elders preferred the dolly. The dolly charges are around Rs.1500 per person for too and fro travel up to Kedarnath from Gauri Kund. However, the charges for the pony ride are around Rs.1000 per head. Gauri Kund is located at the height of 3000 feet. It is said that Devi Parvati took the bath here, everyday in the morning in the ancient days. There are also hot water wells here at Gauri Kund, where you can take a hot bath. The entire way to Kedarnath of 8 miles is on the hilly roads that are extremely tough to climb. It takes around 7 hours to reach Kedar from Gauri Kund by feet. The pony travel takes around 4 hours. The places like Bhairavnath temple, Jungle Chatti, Bhimshila, and eagle spot comes in the way and must be visited. We reached at Kedarnath at around 4 pm in the afternoon. There was severe cold, even at that time in the month of June. We stayed at the Bharat Seva Sangh building that has good rooms available to stay at nominal rates.

There are around 100 stone steps to climb prior to entering inside the temple. There are statues of Lord Shree Krishna, Pandavas, and Ganesh. This temple is thousands of years old and Pandavas had gone to Himalayas via this temple. The story goes as Pandavas could not find lord Shiva in the Kedarnath in spite of many efforts. Finally, they found lord Shiva in the form of one buffalo among the crowd of buffalos. Bheema, strongest of Pandavas, got hold of this particular buffalo after lot of fight. During this fight, the back of the buffalo remained here at Kedarnath and the head went to Katmandu in Nepal. This is the reason the shape of the lingam of Shiva here at Kedarnath is not in standard elliptical shape but is in shape of the back of buffalo and is dark red in color. This temple was built by the King Janmejay, son of the King Pareekshit, before around 5000 years from solid rocks. The appearance of the temple also indicates that the temple is really very old. You can go up to the Shiva Lingam and can perform puja very close to the Shiva Lingam. The morning puja time is 4.30 am. It is really challenging to take bath in the River Mandakini at this hour prior to performing the puja. There is generally a night halt given here by all the travel companies in order to enjoy the real hilly beauty of Himalayan Mountains around Kedarnath. Though, Kedarnath do not have many facilities like good hotel accommodations etc. it has a beauty of its own in addition to the religious value of the place.

Kedarnath can be covered in the most famous four dham pilgrimage that covers Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri. However, it may be noted that the pilgrimage to Kedarnath is comparatively more difficult than other 3 dhams pilgrimage due to its hilly walk way, which is very narrow at times. You need to be physically fit to travel this one way distance of 8 miles on feet.

Keadrnath is the most important Lord Shiva temple in the entire world and we all must always look for the suitable opportunity to visit the same.