Kedarnath is one of the holiest Hindu temples devoted to the god Shiva. It is on the Garhwal Himalayan range near the Mandakini river in Kedarnath, Uttarakhand in India. It is one of the 12 Jyotirlingas of India.
Due to acute weather conditions, the temple is open only between the end of April (Akshaya Tritriya) to Kartik Purnima (the autumn full moon, usually November). During the winters, the vigrahas (deities) from Kedarnath temple are brought to Ukhimath and worshiped there for six months. Lord Shiva is worshiped as Kedarnath.
It is one of the 275 Paadal Petra Sthalams, expounded inTevaram. Pandavas were assumed to have pleased Shiva by doing absolution in Kedarnath. The temple is one of the four major sites in India's Chota Char Dham pilgrimage of Northern Himalayas.
The first hall inside Kedarnath Temple contains sculptures of the five Pandava brothers, Lord Krishna, Nandi, the vehicle of Shiva andVirabhadra, one of the guards of Shiva. Figure of Draupadi and other divinity are also put up in the main hall. A medium-size conical rough stone formation is worshiped in the Garbagruha and considered as Sadashiva form of Lord Shiva.
A phenomenal feature of the temple is the head of a man carved in the triangular stone fascia. Such a head is seen carved in another temple nearby constructed on the site where the marriage of Shiva and Parvati was conducted. Adi Shankara was believed to have re-established this temple, along with Badrinath and other temples of Uttarakhand; he is believed to have attained Mahasamadhi at Kedaranath. Behind the temple is the samādhi mandir of Adi Sankara.
LOCATION : It is at a height of 3,583 m (11,755 ft), 223 km from Rishikesh, on the shores of Mandakini river, a tributary of Ganga.
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