Kedarnath is a remote town in the foothills of the Shivaliks, one of the four sites of the Char Dham pilgrimage, sacred to Hindus.
LOCATION
Located in the Rudraprayag District, 86 kilometres from the town of Rudraprayag in Uttar Pradesh, Kedarnath is a remote religious town 3583 metres above sea level, in the Himalayas, known especially because of its Kedarnath Temple.
MYTHOLOGY
The name Kedarnath means The Lord of the Field. This is because Kedarnath is said to be the place where the Crop of Liberation is said to grow. The Kedarnath Temple is said to have been built by the Pandavs. It is said that after the Kurukshretra war, the guilt they felt for slaying their brothers led them to a quest to find Shiva and ask for His Divine Forgiveness. They began meeting Lord Shiva at five places, and they built a temple at each of those places to commemorate the meetings.
SIGNIFICANCE
The Kedarnath Temple is the most significant place in Kedarnath. It is a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva, flocked yearly by thousands of Hindu devotees. The temple is open from April to November due to extreme weather conditions for the rest of the year, which has led to many flash floods and landslides. This temple is one of the four Char Dham Pilgrimage sites that is a very sacred pilgrimage for devotees of Lord Shiva. A religious dance called the Pandav Leela is performed by tribal natives of Kedarnath.
The Bhairavnath temple, dedicated to Lord Bhairav is also an important place in Kedarnath as is it said that the deity of this temple, Bhairav, protects Kedarnath during the long winters.
The Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary was built to protect the Himalayan Musk Deer, an endangered species.
ARCHITECTURE
The architecture of all major as well as minor temples in Kedarnath are all designed in a similar North Indian style, built by the Pandavs. They have a main hall with a smaller pillared hall at the entrance with images of minor gods and wives of gods. All these temples have a Shivlingam in the hall as they are all dedicated to Lord Shiva.
The Kedarnath Temple is said to have survived 800 years buried underneath snow, which is proof of how advanced architecture was back then, with the ability to create such sturdy structures with intricate carvings.
OVER THE CENTURIES
By the 12th Century, Kedarnath became a popular pilgrimage site and has been flocked by thousands of devout Shaivites ever since. Eric Earle Shipton, an English mountaineer documented his visit to Kedarnath, where he mentioned a priest who held prayers at Kedarnath as well as Badrinath every day, travelling to and from everyday.
DEMOGRAPHY
The population of Kedarnath for the year 2021 is 612, constituting 99% males and 1% females. The average literacy rate is 63%, and due to Kedarnath being a pilgrimage site it has a floating population of more than 5000 per day from the months of May to October.
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