Rudraprayag: The holy shrine of Kedarnath is located in the peaceful Himalayas of 'Devbhoomi' Uttarakhand. Kedarnath is part of the 12 Jyotirlingas, Char Dham and Panch Kedar. The portals of this holy shrine were closed for winters on Tuesday on the occasion of Bhai Dooj. The portals shall remain closed for the next six months.
With army band playing tunes, the entourage of the Panchmukhi Bhogmurti of Baba Kedar was placed on the Vigrah Doli and left for its winter abode at the Onkareshwar Temple. On 31st October the Bhogmurti will be placed for the next six months at the temple after completing rituals and offering prayers.
Kedarnath had long queues of followers after the portals of the shrine were opened this year on 9th May. It is pure devotion to the shrine that even after the deluge of 2013 this year again a record number of devotees came visiting the shrine. With respect to pilgrim inflow, 2019 has been the best year so far.
The portals of the shrine have been closed on the auspicious day of Bhai Dooj for the next 6 months. As per belief the prayers in the temple are performed for equal amounts of time by humans and Gods. That is for 6 months each. When the portals are closed an Akhand Jyoti is lighted inside the temple and when after six months the portals are opened the jyoti is still lit.
As per religious belief after the closure of the portals the responsibility of conducting prayers at the temple stays with Gods. And they are the ones who keep the jyoti lit all the way long. The sight of this divyajyoti is considered to be very auspicious. According to local folklore even after the closing of the shrine, sounds of bells ringing from within the temple can be heard.
Historical belief is linked to Pandavas
The local belief goes that after the win in the battle of Mahabharata, the Pandavas wanted penance for the sin of killing their brothers. For the same, they wanted blessings from lord Shiva who in turn was angry with the Pandavas, and hence was eluding them. In their pursuit of Shiva, the Pandavas reached the Himalayas. But Lord Shiva went into hiding in Kedar. The Pandavas also reached Kedar following him. Seeing this Shiva took the form of a buffalo and hid amongst other cattle. Suspicious of this Bheem spread his legs across two mountains.
All the cattle went through his legs but the Shiva couldn’t. Bheem tried to overpower the buffalo but Shiva started vanishing again from there too. During this Bheem was able to grab hold of the buffalo from the back. Lord Shiva got impressed with the efforts and dedication of the Pandavas and presented himself in front of them and granted them penance.
From that time onwards Shiva’s incarnation as sitting on the back of a Bull is worshipped. It is believed that when he disappeared while sitting on the bull his upper body resurfaced in Kathmandu. Where it is now worshipped as the famous Pashupatinath Temple. His arms surfaced in Tungnath, Face in Rudranath, Navel in Madhmaheswar and hair locks surfaced in Kalpeshwar. This is the reason that Kedarnath with all these four places are together referred to as the Panch Kedar. All these places have beautiful temples of Lord Shiva.
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