Kedarnath: Chronicle of the Himalayan Jyotirling
- Priyanka Kurup
- Mar 1, 2024
- 3 min read
Kedarnath or Kedareswar is the manifestation of Lord Shiva’s Jyotirling. It is cocooned in the Garhwal district of Uttarakhand near the river Mandakini.The shrine of Kedarnath is not a single Shivaling but divided into 5 parts known as the Panch Kedars. To derive a boon from the visiting of the Kedarnath Jyotirling, one needs to complete all the five Kedars.
The journey to Kedarnath can be quite challenging due to the high altitude and difficult terrain. It makes one wonder as if Lord Shiva was trying to be elusive. The theory is proved right as per the Kotirudrasamhita in Shivapuran. There are two interesting stories behind the Kedarnath Jyotirling.
Once,Nara and Narayana, the two incarnations of Lord Vishnu, performed hard penance in the holy hermitage of Badrikashrama in the Garhwal ranges of the Himalayas. Lord Shiva, ever merciful towards his devotees appeared in front of them to grant them the boons of their penance. In return they wished for Lord Shiva to stay there in his form as a Shivaling and bless all the devotees who may come to seek his blessings. Lord Shiva agreed to stay back and his form came to be known as Kedareshwar where he grants the desires of all his devotees who come from far and wide, braving many climatic difficulties to seek his blessings. It is said in the Shivapuran that whoever worships Lord Kedareshwar will never suffer from any kind of distress, even in his dreams.
It was Lord Kedareshwar, who tried to be elusive to the Pandavas when they came in search of him to seek his forgiveness.Pandavas in the great war of Kurukshetra had to annihilate their own cousins and brahmins who had participated in the war against them.To absolve themselves from the sins of fratricide and killing of brahmins, Lord Vishnu had advised them to seek forgiveness from Lord Shiva, the destroyer of all sins.Lord Shiva was annoyed at the Pandavas for the Kurukshetra massacre and wasn’t quite inclined to grant them forgiveness.
So, when the Pandavas came looking for him, he disguised himself as a bull and tried to camouflage himself amidst the other cattle that were grazing in the nearby meadow.Of all the Pandavas,it was Bheem, who spotted Lord Shiva as a bull.Lord Shiva tried to disappear into the Earth but before he could do that Bheem used his mighty strength and tried to pull the bull- formed Shiva out by grabbing its hind legs. The force of the pull was such that the body of the bull disintegrated into different parts.The hind portion of the bull which was pulled out took the form of a triangle shaped Shivaling which today resides inside the sanctum sanctorium of the Kedarnath temple.
The forelegs of the bull appeared in Tunganath, the trunk surfaced in Madhyamaheshwar, the face showed up at Rudranath and the hair and the head appeared in Kalpeshwar. Including Kedarnath there are in total 5 temples built on the holy spots mentioned above and together they constitute the Panch Kedars. The Shivapuran also mentions that a part of the bull’s face appeared in the Nayapala region (present day Nepal) where it is worshipped as Pashupatinath.Lord Shiva finally, did bless the Pandavas following which they all started their final journey towards attaining salvation.
The holy shrine of Kedarnath quells the sins of all who go there to seek Lord Kedareshwar’s blessings and is an emblem of India’s rich history and spiritual identity.
Har Har Mahadev.
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