Kedarnath Temple

Kedarnath, the fifth and highest jyotirlinga, stands at 3,583 metres in the Garhwal Himalaya of Uttarakhand, at the head of the Mandakini. Tradition holds that the Pandavas sought Shiva here after Kurukshetra; the lord eluded them as a bull, and the hump he left behind is the rock worshipped in the sanctum. The temple keeps mountain time — open only the summer six months, the deity wintering at Ukhimath — and tradition places the samadhi of Adi Shankara just behind it, the philosopher dissolving at the door of the light he had sung.

This page awaits its full Indopedia treatment — history from inscriptions and chronicles, period images with provenance, and the chain of builders and rebuilders, in the manner of Somnath Temple — The Shrine Eternal. To take up this temple, see Indopedia:Contribute.