Kedarnath is on the bank of the Manadakini River between Gangotri and BadrinathThis Lord Siva temple at Kedamath is said to have been originally built by the Pandavas and the present temple was reconstructed by Sankaracarya in the 8th century. One of the 12 jyotirlingas is in this temple. Inside the temple there is an irregular three-faced linga, representing the hump of Lord Siva when he took the form of a bull. The temple faces south, which is an unique feature, as most temples face east. This temple is very solidly built.
The story of the temple is that the Pandavas felt contaminated by sinful reactions from killings so many people during the Kurukshetra war. They decided to ask Lord Siva for his blessings to relieve them from these sinful reactions. The Pandavas first went to Kasi (Varanasi) to get Lord Siva's blessings, but the Lord fled to Uttarakhand (Guptakasi) and lived there incognito. Eventually the Pandavas found him there, and Lord Siva turned himself into a bull to hide. Bhima recognized his disguise and grabbed the bull by the tail. The bull slowly sank into the ground, and Lord Siva then appeared before them on account of their great determination. Lord Siva instructed them to worship the remaining hump of the bull (pinda form).lt is believed that Sankaracarya attained samadhi here about 820 AD. The temple is open six months of the year, May to October.
