Stone, snow anda thousand years of stories.
Kedarnath is two wonders in one valley: one of Hinduism's most revered shrines, and a high Himalayan ecosystem of glaciers, rivers and rare wildlife.
Heritage & culture
A temple older than the trails it inspired
Kedarnath is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas and the most remote of the Char Dham of Uttarakhand. Legend holds that after the great war of the Mahabharata, the Pandavas sought Shiva here to atone — and that he took the form of a bull and dived into the earth, his hump remaining at Kedarnath. The four other parts are worshipped across the Panch Kedar temples of the region.
The stone temple standing today is traditionally credited to Adi Shankaracharya in the 8th century, built from massive interlocking slabs that have weathered centuries of snow. Evening aarti here — lamps, bells and cold wind off the glacier — is something travellers describe long after the details of the trek fade.
Photo via Unsplash
Nature & Himalaya
The valley is the other temple
The Mandakini, born of the Chorabari glacier above the town, runs beside the entire trail — grey, fast and glacial. A short walk beyond the temple leads towards Gandhi Sarovar, a still glacial lake held in a bowl of moraine.
The surrounding Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary shelters musk deer, Himalayan monal, tahr and, in the higher reaches, snow leopards. In early summer the meadows above the treeline briefly fill with alpine flowers before the snows return.
Photo via Unsplash