Kedarnath

Kedarnath, perched at 3,583 metres in the Garhwal Himalayas, houses one of the twelve Jyotirlingas — the self-manifested pillars of light through which Shiva revealed his infinite nature. Standing on the banks of the Mandakini river, with the Kedarnath peak (6,940 m) rising directly behind and glaciers on three sides, the temple occupies one of the most dramatically situated sacred sites on earth.

Built with massive stone slabs in a style attributed to the Pandavas, the main sanctum shelters the svayambhu Shivalinga — an irregular pyramid-shaped rock of grey stone representing the back hump of Shiva in bull form. Kedarnath is the most prominent site of the Panch Kedar circuit (five Shiva shrines across the Garhwal range) and the anchor of the Himalayan Char Dham yatra. The approach — a 16-km trek from Gaurikund through the Mandakini valley — is itself considered a form of tapas, and pilgrims speak of the landscape shifting gradually from the busy world into something austere and luminous. Behind the temple, Shankaracharya's samadhi mandir marks the spot where the great philosopher attained mahasamadhi at age 32.

After the Kurukshetra war, the Pandavas sought Shiva's blessing and forgiveness for the violence committed. Shiva, unwilling to grant it easily, disguised himself as a bull and plunged into the earth at Kedarnath. Bhima caught the bull by its hind quarters — the hump emerged at Kedarnath, the arms at Tungnath, the face at Rudranath, the navel at Madhyamaheshwar, and the hair at Kalpeshwar — forming the five Panch Kedar shrines. Pleased by their perseverance, Shiva finally granted his blessing.