Kedarnath Temple

About Kedarnath Temple:

• It is a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva. 
• Location: It is located at an height of 3,584 meters on the Garhwal Himalayan range near the Mandakini river, in the Rudraprayag District of Uttarakhand.
• Kedarnath forms one of the four sites of the Chota Char Dham Pilgrimage circuit, and is one of the 12 Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva in India.
• Who build it? It is said that the Pandavas constructed the Kedarnath Temple which was later reconstructed by Adi Shankaracharya in the 8th century A.D. 
• Architecture:
  • It has exquisite architecture and is built of extremely large but evenly shaped grey stone slabs.
  • The stone slabs are interlocked with each other with the use of iron clamps.
  • No mortar has been used in the construction of the temple.
  • There is a conical rock structure inside the Kedarnath temple that is worshipped as the Sadashiva form of Shiva.
  • A “Garba Griha” for worship and a Mandap for pilgrims is placed inside the temple.

What is Chota Char Dham Yatra?

• It refers to the journey up the mountains to four sacred temples in the North Indian state of Uttarakhand.
• The four temples that comprise Chota Char Dham are Yamunotri Dham, Gangotri Dham, Badrinath Dham and Kedarnath Dham.

What are Jyotirlingas?

•  A Jyotirlinga is a shrine where Lord Shiva is worshipped in the form of a Jyotirlingam.
• There are currently 12 main Jyotirlingas in India.
• The 12 Jyotirlinga temples in India take the name of the presiding deity. Each considered a different manifestation of Lord Shiva. 
• 12 Jyotirlingas in India are:
  • Somnath Jyotirlinga in Gir, Gujarat
  • Mallikarjuna Jyotirlinga in Srisailam, Andhra Pradesh
  • Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh
  • Omkareshwar Jyotirlinga in Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh
  • Baidyanath Jyotirlinga in Deoghar, Jharkhand
  • Bhimashankar Jyotirlinga in Maharashtra
  • Ramanathaswamy Jyotirlinga in Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu
  • Nageshwar Jyotirlinga in Dwarka, Gujarat
  • Kashi Vishwanath Jyotirlinga in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
  • Trimbakeshwar Jyotirlinga in Nasik, Maharashtra
  • Kedarnath Jyotirlinga in Rudraprayag, Uttarakhand
  • Ghrishneshwar Jyotirlinga in Aurangabad, Maharashtra

Q) What are Jyotirlingas?

A Jyotirlinga is a shrine where Lord Shiva is worshipped in the form of a Jyotirlingam. There are currently 12 main Jyotirlingas in India. The 12 Jyotirlinga temples in India take the name of the presiding deity. Each considered a different manifestation of Lord Shiva.

Source: High-Level Panel To Probe Alleged Scam In Gold Plating At Kedarnath Temple