Kedarnath Temple

Kedarnath Temple is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva and the most important of the four Char Dham shrines in Uttarakhand. Set at an altitude of 3,583 metres in the Garhwal Himalayas, surrounded by snow-capped peaks and glaciers, the temple is accessible only from May to November. The main shrine is an ancient stone structure believed to have been built by the Pandavas and later re-established by Adi Shankaracharya in the 8th century, whose samadhi is located directly behind the temple. The presiding deity is a naturally occurring conical rock worshipped as a form of Shiva's hump. The 2013 Kedarnath floods caused massive destruction to the surrounding town but left the temple itself largely intact, an event widely regarded by devotees as a divine miracle. The trek to the temple from Gaurikund covers 16 km through dramatic mountain terrain.