Kedarnath Temple is located in the Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand. Today we have shared some interesting facts about Kedarnath Temple.
With a very vast history of floods and stories, Kedarnath Mandir is known as one of the Char Dham pilgrimages of the Garhwal Himalayas. Kedarnath Dham is located in the highest place among the 12 Jyotirlingas.
Kedarnath is situated at an astonishing height of 3584 meters above sea level near the head of the Mandakini River. In this article, we have collected some rare and unknown Facts About Kedarnath Temple.
21 Amazing Facts About Kedarnath
Here are the most interesting facts about Kedarnath Temple that will surprise you for sure.
1. Triangle Shaped Shivlinga
The Shiva Lingam of the Kedarnath temple is a triangle shape. and hence is unique among Shiva temples. which is placed in the sanctum sanctorum (Garbha Griha) of the temple.
Also Read: Kedarnath Shivling Story
2. Idol Shifts to Omkareshwar Temple in Winter
When the Kedarnath temple is closed for six months in the winter, the idol of the deity is brought to the Omkareshwar temple of Ukhimath and worshiped in that temple for six months.
3. Ancient Mantras of Kedarnath
In Ancient Times The Mantras were chanted in the Kannada language in the Kedarnath temple. Now it is practiced in Sanskrit daily by the pandas of Kedarnath.
4. BKTC (Temple Authority)
Kedarnath Temple was managed by Kedarnath Temple Commission under the Shri Kedarnath Mandir Act, 1939 of the Uttar Pradesh Government.
After the formation of Uttarakhand, now it is under the control of the Shri Badarinath Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC).
5. Kedarnath Flood 2013
The unpredictable extreme weather situation doesn’t permit somebody to reach Kedarnath easily. Actually, A cloud burst is sufficient to fill the Kedarnath temple complex with water and a cliff. In 2013, Kedarnath was hit by a massive flood.
Also Read: Kedarnath Flood (Complete Story)
6. Kedarnath Temple Height
- Kedarnath is situated at a height of 3584 meters above sea level in Rudraprayag.Â
- The Kedarnath temple’s height is 85 feet, 187 feet in length and width is 80 feet.
- The walls of the Kedarnath temple are 12 feet in thickness and are made of incredibly strong stones.
7. Decay of idols and ShivlingÂ
It is believed that the Swambhu Shivling of Lord Shiva in Kedarnath has decayed. In ancient times Shivling was very much larger than it is today. It is also believed that the head of the idol of Shiva is in the Doleshwar Mahadev Temple located in Bhaktapur, Nepal.
8. The basement of Kedarnath
The Kedarnath temple stands on a 6 feet high stage. Surprisingly, how the temple must have been carved by bringing such a heavy stone at such a height.
Experts consider that interlocking technology would have been used to connect the stones. It is the power of technology that has managed to keep the Kedarnath temple standing in the middle of the river.
9. Most Strong Temple Structure in the world
RK Dobhal says that this temple is very strong. Its walls are covered with thick rock and its roof is made of a single stone.
10. Covered by Snow for almost 400 years.
Kedarnath temple was completely under snow for 400 years, after which this temple came to light.
Also Read: Kedarnath Weather Guide
11. Disaster-proof Temple
Some religious scholars say that nothing can ever happen in this holy temple, no matter how big a calamity comes because this temple is being protected by its main deity
12. Who Built Kedarnath Temple?
- Kedarnath temple was originally built by the Pandavas brothers.
- And it is re-constructed by Adi Guru Shankaracharya 1400 years ago.
It is also renovated by King Parikshit in a grand way. He was the father of Emperor Jaymejayan, King Parikshit died of snakebite.
13. Jyotirlingas
One of the interesting facts about Kedarnath is that Kedarnath is one of the twelve sacred Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva. And it is the only Jyotirlinga that is located in the Himalayas and the highest in all 12 jyotirlingas of lord shiva.
It is also said about this temple that he blessed the Himalayas and kept him filled with devotion to Lord Shiva.
Must Read: Kedarnath Jyotirlinga Story
14. Bhimshila Stone
This temple has faced many problems and natural disasters, and despite this, this temple is still strong. Even the terrible floods in 2013 destroyed everything but could not even touch the temple.
The holy temple itself did not suffer any major damage. And only minor damage can be seen. It can only be called a miraculous act that a huge rock got stuck behind the temple. And it protected the temple from destructive floods.
This stone is now known as Bhim Shila.
15. Name derivation
The name Kedarnath is derived from the word ‘Kodaram’.Legend says that once the gods worshiped Lord Shiva to save themselves from the demon. Then Lord Shiva appeared as an ox and destroyed the demons and threw them into the Mandakini river with his horns.
16. Protection from demons
The Bhairo Nath temple is believed a protector of Kedarnath ji. It is necessary to visit Bhairav Nath Temple during the opening and closing ceremonies of Kedarnath Temple.
It is considered that when the temple remains closed, Bhaironathji protects the Kedarnath shrine by keeping away the demons.
17. Pandavas Visited Kedarnath
As per Purana, the Kedarnath Temple was built by the Pandava brothers. Pandavas came here after the Kurukshetra war on the counsel of Sage Vyasa. The Pandavas wanted to meet Shiva to apologize for killing their brothers.
However, Lord Shiva was in no mood to forgive Pandavas, And Lord Shiva turned into form an ox and hid among the beast in the hills. When the Pandavas tracked him then he again hides by sinking his head in the land.
One of the Pandavas pulled his tail and a battle ensued. The bull’s head landed at Rudranath’s place, the body parts landed at four other places. These five places are known as Panch Kedar. This forced Lord Shiva to appear before the Pandavas and pardon them. Thus Lord Shiva changed into Jyotirlinga and established himself as Kedarnath.
Also Read: History of Kedarnath
18. Priest
The main priest of the Kedarnath temple always belongs to the Veerashaiva society from Karnataka, also known as Raval.
He does not perform the puja ceremony himself, it’s all entirely by his helper. However, when the deity is shifted from Kedarnath to Ukhimath, So the chief priest performs the ceremony. And Raval also comes with the lord to Ukhimath.
19. Inside Kedarnath Temple
The Kedarnath temple houses idols of Parvati, Lord Krishna, five Pandavas, and their wife Draupadi, Nandi, Veerabhadra, and other gods and goddesses along with the vehicle Nandi of Lord Shiva.
20. Kedarnath is part of Panch Kedar
Panch Kedar is part of Lord Shiva’s body that appeared at five places in Kedarnath Town. It is said that the Pandavas built temples at each of these 5 places.
Temple names are Kedarnath, Tungnath, Rudranath, Madhyamaheswar, and Kalpeswara. It takes 14 days to visit all five shrines of lord shiva.
Also Read: Panch Kedar Yatra 2023 Guide
21. Most Searched Temple in India (Online Google India)
Kedarnath is the most searched temple in India with over 10,00,000 searches per month.
It is due to a surge in the hype in social media viral posts devoted to lord shiva and the famous will to visit Kedarnath at least once in a lifetime.Â
The popularity of Kedarnath increased rapidly after the Kedarnath Movie starring Sushant Singh Rajput and Sara Ali Khan.
The Kedarnath Movie (Bollywood film) tells the story of a wealthy Hindu girl named Mukku, who falls in love with a Muslim porter named Mansoor during a pilgrimage to the Kedarnath Temple.
The Song “Namo Namo Shankara” was widely popular and was filmed in Kedarnath. Devotees can see the beautiful Kedarnath temple in the song video. Millions of Devotees of Lord Shiva want to visit Kedarnath After the movie.
Another Reason for the popularity of Kedarnath is that the temple remains closed for almost 6 months due to heavy rainfall and bad weather conditions. Apart from this, 16km of climbing trek attracts trekkers and travelers for the challenging tour of Kedarnath Yatra.
This creates an urge of visiting the temple during the Char Dham Yatra season every year.
Facts About Char Dham: