INDIA: Kedarnath Temple
The sacred Kedarnath Temple lies at an
altitude of 3584 metres in the snow-capped landscape of Uttarakhand or
Uttaranchal in
north India. It is venerated by Hindus as one of the twelve
Jyotirlingams -the northern one - the most southern one is in Rameswaram
in Tamil Nadu.The origins of Kedarnath lie in the epic Mahabharata where
Lord Shiva is seeking escape from the Pandavas in the guise of a bull. Followed
to Kedarnath, he sank into the ground leaving behind only his hump - the rock
formation inside the temple which is worshipped as Shiva in his Sadashiva
form. Adding emphasis to the story is that unlike other Shiva shrines which
are typically phallic, the lingam here is pyramidal, like the hump on one of
the millions of Brahmin bulls wandering in towns all over India. Kedarnath is one of the five important Shiva temples found in the Garhwal
Himalayas, source of the two holy Hindu rivers - the Ganges and the Yamuna.
The temple built of large, heavy grey slabs of stones is considered to be
more than 1000 years old. A statue of Nandi - the bull-god - standing at
the entrance welcomes hardy pilgrims and hikers completing the steep 14 km
trek from
Gaurikund (a day`s road travel from Haridwar). The interior walls of the
temple are
covered with paintings of Hindu deities and scenes from the Mahabharata. Kedarnath
is inaccessible during the winter months when it is under snow.