After the great war of the Mahabharata, the Pandavas were weighed down by grief. They had witnessed the destruction of their own clan and the deaths of kinsmen on both sides. They set out to seek Shiva's blessing and absolution.
Shiva was reluctant to receive them. He took the form of a bull and tried to disappear into the Himalayan wilderness. Bhima recognised him and grabbed hold of the bull's back.
According to the Shiva Purana, different parts of Shiva's body appeared at different locations in the mountains — these are revered today as the Panch Kedar, the five Kedar shrines.
Shiva, in the form of a bull, disappeared into the earth — only his hump remained. That hump is the Shivalinga worshipped at Kedarnath today.
Kedarnath is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas and an essential part of the Chota Char Dham yatra of Uttarakhand. Nestled deep in the Himalayas, it is a place where nature and bhakti (devotion) meet in a way unlike almost anywhere else.
The Shivalinga here is triangular in shape — different from all other Jyotirlingas. Devotees traditionally apply ghee to the linga and are allowed to touch it directly.
- The main sanctum holds the triangular Shivalinga — covered in ghee, with touch-darshan available
- Behind the temple — the Bhairavnath shrine, considered the guardian of the region
- The origin of the Mandakini river and the view of the glacier
- The samadhi of Adi Shankaracharya — within the temple complex itself