01The bull that sank into the earth
After Kurukshetra the Pandavas went to the Himalaya to seek Shiva’s pardon for the killing of their kin. Mahadev did not wish to be found and took the form of a bull among the herds. Bhima stood astride the valley and the cattle passed under his legs, all but one; when he grabbed it, the bull began to sink into the ground, and only its hump remained, at Kedarnath. The arms appeared at Tungnath, the face at Rudranath, the navel at Madhyamaheshwar and the matted hair at Kalpeshwar. These five are the Panch Kedar. The Shiva Purana also counts Kedar as the Jyotirlinga where Nar and Narayan worshipped Shiva.
02Shankara’s samadhi
Tradition holds that Adi Shankaracharya restored worship here and that his earthly life ended in the snows behind the temple. His samadhi shrine was washed away in 2013 and rebuilt; a new 12-foot statue of the Acharya, carved from chlorite schist in Mysuru, was unveiled there on 5 November 2021. The chief priest, the Rawal, comes from the Veerashaiva Jangam community of Karnataka, and the puja is said in Kannada as well as Sanskrit.
03The flood of 2013 and Bhim Shila
On 16 and 17 June 2013 a cloudburst and the bursting of the Chorabari lake sent a wall of water and boulders down onto Kedarnath. Thousands of pilgrims died in the valley and the town was flattened. A great boulder came to rest just behind the temple and split the torrent around it; the temple stood with little damage. Pilgrims now worship the rock as Bhim Shila. Worship moved to Ukhimath for the season and resumed at Kedarnath in September 2013.
The life of this place
- 16–17 June 2013Flood from Chorabari lake devastates Kedarnath; the temple survives behind Bhim Shila.
- 5 November 2021Rebuilt samadhi of Adi Shankaracharya and new statue unveiled.
Doors open in late April or May (the date is fixed at Ukhimath on Mahashivaratri) and close on Bhai Dooj, after which the utsav murti goes in a doli to Omkareshwar temple, Ukhimath. The walk from Gaurikund is about 16 km.
