Kedarnath-Dham

Kedarnath, the famous holy town of Lord Shiva has been situated at the height of 3583 m above sea-level on a marshy plain, on the slope of Himalyas. Kedarnath is the place where Lord Shiva Lingam has been installed in the beautiful temple where the perpetual snow clad exists on the Himalayas and down to the flower-decked Mandakini Valley.
The ancient temple of Kedamath was constructed by Pandavas. This is one among Dwadasha Jyotirlinga. In outer area of temple, the statues of Godess Parvati, Pandva, Godess Lakshmi etc are situated. Hanskund is situated near to Kedarnth temple where Shradha-Tarpan is use to perform for Moksha of Pitra (the ancestors). Amritkund is situated behind the Kedarnath temple and Retas kund is situated at little distance from temple. The lake of cold water (ice) is located very near to temple which is the origin of river Mandakini. Uddandkund is situated at a few distances from temple which has a great importance in history.

After the war of Kurukshetra, the Pandvas set out on a yatra to Varanasi in order to be blessed by Lord Shiva and be absolved from the sin of killing their own brothers-the kauravas. Lord Shiva, unwilling to give darshan to the Pandvas, fled from Kashi to Uttrakhand and lived in Guptakashi.
The temple is divided into three parts. The garbh griha in which the idol of Lord Badrinath is On being detected by the Pandvas, Shiva went ot Kedarnath, but the Pandavas followed him. He assumed the form of a bull and started grazing amongst the cattle, but even then could not escape detection by the Pandavas, At dust, when it was time for the cattle to return home, Bhim (of gigantic stature, great courage and strength) stretched his legs across the mountains (standing on either side of the Kedamath Valley) in order to identify Shiva. All the cattle passed under his legs except Shiva, whom Bhim noticed. As Bhim bent down to catch hold of him, Shiva sank into the earth and only his back portion (the hump) was taken in Bhim's hand. Shiva being pleased with the determination of the Pandavas, exonerated them from their sin, gave them darshan and requested them to worship his hump. It is from that date the hump of Shiva worshipped in the Temple of Sri Kedarnath-in the conical Shiva pinda form.

Greographical Details of Badrinath

Altitude: 3584mts

Climate

In summers: Cool during day and cold at night.

In winters: Very cold, about to touching sub zero

Clothing required

April to July - Light woolen.

September to November - Heavy woolens

Distance Chart

Haridwar to Dehradun	55 kms
Dehradun to Deoprayag	110 kms
Deoprayag to Srinagar	36 kms
Srinagar to Rudraprayag	33 kms
Rudraprayag to Syalsur	22 kms
Syalsur to Kund	21 kms
Kund to Guptakashi	10 kms
Guptakashi to Gaurikund	12 kms
Gaurikund to Kedarnath	22 kms