Kedaranath, situated in the
Himalayas at a height of 10,500 ft. above sea level, is
384 kilometer away from Haridwar. Kedarnath with one of the 12 jyothir lingas of
Siva, is amongst the premier pilgrimages in India . Kedarnath, is at the head of
Mandakini river, in a valley two and half km, surrounded by high snow covered
mountains.
As the legend goes, a temple (now
extinct ) with 12 Jyothirlingas, was built by the pandavas, at the present
site where Adi Sankaracharaya built the present Kedarnath temple behind which Adi Sankaracharya lies in
Samadhi.
Badrinath, a citadel to Lord
Vis
hnu,
stand at a height of 3,155 m. Badrinath is the place, where Vishnu, Ganga,
Saraswathi and Alaknanda confluence. Lakshmi, the consort of Vishnu loved
Badri trees that were found in plenty and was named Badrinath.
Sri Badrinath Ji temple devoted to
Lord Siva, dates back to the vedic ages, where the wedding of Lord Siva and
Parvathi, was solemnized. In the 8th century
AD Adi Sankaracharya came to
Badri and restored the ancient deity from the Narad Kund and established in the
Ganyr cave near Taptakund. (Taptakund is a hot water spring, nearby, which
is the abode of Lord Agni). Later the King of Garhwal built the present temple
and established the deity here.
The other places of worship in
Badrivishal complex are Gupt kashi (Arddh -Narisvara and Viswanath temples),
Panch Kedar (Mad Maheswaray, Tungnath, Rudra nath, Kalpanath and Kedarnath) Vyas
Gulfa anf Ganes Gulfa (where saint Vyas dictated the Mahabharata to
Ganesa ), Bhim pul (where Bhim and Hanuman met ), Hemkund Sahib are other
places, where pilgrims offer prayers and oblations.