The Himalayas, the mind-blowing marvel …!

The hind side of Lord Siva in the form of a buffalo became a lingam, the ‘sthalapurana’ says …

We all entered the Kedarnath temple with full devotion and joy. The dolis in which my brother’s wife, her mother and my mother traveled didn’t reach us till last. While my brother Srivatsan stayed back for them, we all entered the temple. As soon as we entered, priests surrounded us putting questions about our native town etc. We reminded ourselves of our guide Ayyavu’s words asking us not to reply to anybody and proceed. Accordingly, we ignored them and bought the puja materials for archana.

Devotees who were returning raised slogans “Kedarnathji ki jai”. The thought of Kedarnath was occupying the minds of each and everyone irrespective of their creed or caste. With the beautiful feeling and expectation of our darshan of Kedarnath we put our feet inside the sannadhi. An inexplicable feeling pervaded us. Kayilainathan is portrayed as a lingam here. People pray in different manners – some embrace the lingam … some apply ghee … some perform abhishekam with water … some shower flowers on it … We gave a priest the names and stars of our family members for performing archana. He gave a silver vilvam as prasadam.

The history of Kedarnath temple

The Pandavas went to Himalayas to have a darshan of Lord Shiva after the end of Gurukshetra War to neutralize their sins committed in the war. Lord Shiva didn’t give them darshan immediately. He crossed every hill in the form of a buffalo; the Pandavas also were wandering in search of the Lord. At Kedarnath, the back of Lord Shiva in the form of buffalo was seen and it became a lingam, according to the sthalapuranam. The other four parts stayed away in different places and all these, together, have come to be called ‘Panchakedar’. The itheekam is that the arm rested in Thunganath, face in Rudranath, stomach in Madhyameshwara and the matted hair in Garpeshwara. They are also known as Sumeru or Pancha parvatham. Except Udhirshtran, all the other four Pandavas reached heaven from the last hill, it is believed. But there are no written notes on the temple about its date etc.

Architecture and specialty of the temple

The lingam is made of granite rock. The temple of Bhairava is located at the south side of Kedarnath temple on the hill. The sculptures on the walls of Kedarnath temple are very rare works. Nandi is there in the mandap near the sanctum. There are a number of sculptures and small temples outside. This lingam is considered one among the twelve jothir lingams.