The Legend of Panch Kedar Yatra. Origins, History and my Adventures

Hinduism is one of the oldest religions if not the oldest. With sources dating back thousands of years in the past, it gets difficult to derive the original source for a specific story or tradition. One such story is the origins of one of the most important pilgrim sites in the Himalayas, the Panch Kedar Yatra.

^{Madmaheshwar Temple}

Some of you might be aware of Kedarnath temple in Uttrakhand, it is one of the 12 jyotirlingas (holiest shrines of Lord Shiva). But it is strictly advised to visit 4 more temples along with Kedarnath and they all are linked with Mahabharata.

Origin Story

The story starts like this, after the bloodiest war of Mahabharata, the Pandavas (5 brothers and protagonists of Mahabharata) decided to atone for killing their cousins and other relatives. All this bloodshed made Lord Shiva angry and to please him they went to Kashi but Lord Shiva didn't want to meet them and went to the Himalayas.

Pandavas travelled to the Himalayas in search of Lord Shiva but Shiva took the form of a Bull to hide from them. Somehow, Bhima, one of the strongest Pandavs spotted and recognised him. This made Lord Shiva disappear and later parts of him appeared in five different places. Pandavas decided to make temples in each of those places and worshiped there.

The first temple where the hump of Shiva appeared is now known as the Kedarnath Temple. His face appeared at Rudranath Temple, his arms at the Tungnath Tempe, his navel and stomach at Madhyamaheshwar Temple and his hair at Kalpeshwar Temple.

^{Tungnath Temple}

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It is prescribed to go to the temples in this order as well. Most of these are over 3000 meters elevations from sea level with Tungnath being the highest shiva temple in the world at 3960 meters above sea level.

^{Kalpeshwar Temple entrance}

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^{One of the smaller temples at Kalpeshwar}

My Adventures

I have been fortunate enough to visit 4 of these temples during the last couple of years. The **Kalpeshwar temple is the only cave temple on the list and the only temple where you can go with a motorised vehicle. All other temples are not connected by roads and you have to walk to get to the temple and the treks are not that easy as well.

One of the most difficult treks I have ever been to is the Rudranath Temple trek. I have shared my experience in this post. It is over 25Km trek (one side) where you have to walk through a dense forest crossing some small river streams, reach one of the highest peaks at Pitrdhar and go down again while struggling with oxygen shortage and exhaustion.

One of the most memorable experiences for me.

^{Rudranath Temple}

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The Aarti (evening prayers) that we experienced in the Madhmaheswar was so energetic and powerful. It was a beautiful experience. You feel much closer to the cosmos and knowing we stand in places where some of the most divine sages have stood fills you with a great feeling.

Adi Shankaracharya, the great sage whose contribution to Hinduism is immeasurable have believed to have reconstructed these temples (around 8th century CE) like the present form that you see them today.

Disclaimer

The story of Panch Kedar was primarily taken from locals in these regions during my visit to these temples and I don't claim to have any authority over the original sources. These legends and stories were taught and passed on orally and it can sometimes lead to many variations but the minute details are not so important. It doesn't matter (at least to me) if Bhima saw Lord Shiva or Arjuna but the core idea is how even the virtuous of people have to do penance for taking the lives of another being etc. There can be multiple takeaways from any such stories and one needs to keep an open mind and try to grasp the hidden value out of it.

I will end this now with a view from the magnificent Himalayas.

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Do check out the Story writing contest - 1 from the Hinduism Community. Share your stories from the vast ocean of stories from Hinduism.

Thanks for reading...

Until next time...

Note:

• All the content is mine unless otherwise stated.
• Photos were taken from my phone and edited using the "Snapseed" app.
• Text dividers are from @cryptosharan.

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