Kedarnath Dham, situated in the lap of the Himalayas, holds a special significance in Hinduism. Kedarnath is very sacred and one of the twelve Jyotirlingas in Hinduism. In Hindu mythology, this snow-capped temple is said to be the abode of Lord Shiva for about 6 months of the year.
According to religious legends, there is an episode that Yudhishthira, the elder brother of Pandavas, was crowned the king of Hastinapur after victory in the war of Mahabharata. After this Yudhishthira ruled Hastinapur for about four decades. Meanwhile one day five Pandavas were reviewing the Mahabharata war with Lord Krishna. In the review, Pandavas asked Shri Krishna a way to remove the stigma of killing brothers? Then Shri Krishna told the Pandavas the way to go to the shelter of Mahadev. After that Shri Krishna returned to Dwarka.
After the departure of Lord Krishna, the Pandavas started worrying about salvation from their sins and they started thinking of leaving everything in their mind and going to the shelter of Lord Shiva. Meanwhile, when he came to know about Vasudeva leaving his mortal body and returning to his supreme abode, he broke down and handed over the throne of Hastinapur to Abhimanyu’s son and his grandson Parikshit and left the kingdom in search of Lord Shiva along with Draupadi. After leaving Hastinapur, the five brothers and Draupadi first reached Kashi to bow to Lord Shiva, but Bholenath was not found there. After that they tried to find Lord Shiva in many other places but wherever these people went, Shiva must have gone from there. In this sequence, one day five Pandavas and Draupadi reached the Himalayas in search of Shiva.
Here also when Shiva saw these people, he hid, but here Yudhishthira saw Lord Shiva hiding. Then Yudhishthira said to Lord Shiva, O Lord, no matter how much you hide, but we will not go without seeing you and I also know that you are hiding because we have sinned. After Yudhishthira said this, the five Pandavas started moving forward. At that moment a bull attacked them. Seeing this, Bhima started fighting with him. Meanwhile the bull hid his head between the rocks, then Bhima grabbed his tail and pulled it, then the body of the bull separated from the head and the body of the bull turned into a Shivling and after a while Lord Shiva appeared from the Shivling. Shiva forgave the sins of the Pandavas.
Evidence of this incident is still found in Kedarnath. Even today the Shivling is present there in the form of a bull’s ball. Seeing Lord Shiva in front of him, the Pandavas bowed to him and then Lord Shiva told the Pandavas the way to heaven. Then the Pandavas worshiped that Shivling and today Shivling is known as Kedarnath Dham. Here Shiva himself showed the Pandavas the way to heaven, so in Hinduism, the place of Kedar is considered to be the place of liberation and it is believed that if one comes with the resolve of Kedar Darshan, he will get freedom from the chakra of eighty-four yoni. Is.