Kedarnath Mandira: When the Pandavas went looking for Lord Shiva

New Delhi, Oct 21: Prime Minister Narendra Modi kick started a three states visit today. After he landed in Kedarnath on Friday morning, he took part in the morning rituals at the iconic Kedarnath Dham.

The Kedarnath Temple has a rich history to it. A folk legend about Panch Kedar relates to the Pandavas. After they defeated their cousins the Kauravas in the epic Kurukshetra war, they wished to atone for their sins of committing gotra hatya and Brāhmanahatya.

Kedarnath and Badrinath are significant to our ethos and traditions. https://t.co/68IErTo24N

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 21, 2022

Thus they handed over the reins of their kingdom to their kin and left in search of lord Shiva. First they went to Varanasi famous for the Kashi Vishwanath Temple. However Shiva wanted to avoid them as he was angry by the death and dishonesty at the Kurukshetra war. He assumed the full form of a bull (Nandi) and hid in the Garhwal region.

Not finding Shiva the. Pandavas went to the Garhwal Himalayas. Bhima spotted a bull grazing near Guptakashi and he immediately recognised the bull to be Shiva. Bhima caught Nandi by its tail and hind legs. But the bull disappeared into the ground and later reappeared in parts with the hump raising in Kedarnath, the arms in Tungnath, the face in Rudranath and the and stomach surfacing in Madhyamaheshwar and the hair appearing in Kalpeshwar. Pleased with this, the Pandavas build Temples at all the five places to worship Lord Shiva.

The Kedarnath Temple is a Hindu Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva and located on the Garhwal Himalayan range near the Mandakini river in the state of Uttarakhand.

The presiding image of the Kedarnath is in the form of a Lingam with a pedestal 3.6 m (12 ft) in circumference and 3.6 m (12 ft) in height. There is a small pillared hall in front of the Temple that has images of Parvati and the Pandavas.

The four Temples around Kedarnath are Tungnath, Rudranath, Madhyamaheshwar and Kalpeshwar which form the Panch Kedar pilgrimage sites.

The head priest or Raval of the Kedarnath Temple belongs to the Veerashaiva community from Karnataka. The Pujas are carried out by the assistants on the instructions of the head priest.

During the winters the Raval moves with the deity to Ukhimath. There are five main priests for the Temple and they become head priests for a year by rotation.

Surrounding Kedarnath, there are many symbols of the Pandavas. The tribals perform a dance here called the Pandav Lila.

The mountain top where the Pandavas went to Swarga is known as the Swargarohini which is located in Badrinath. When Yudhishtira, the eldest of the Pandavas was heading for heaven, one of his fingers fell down on earth and at that place he installed a Shiva Linga which is the size of his thumb.

To gain Mashisharupa, Bheema and Lord Shiva fought with maces. Bheema was struck with remorse and began massaging Shiva's body with ghee. In memory of this even today, this triangular Shiva Lingam is massaged with ghee.