One of the most revered temple destinations of India, Kedarnath town is nestled in the mighty Garhwal Himalayas. The town, built around the revered Kedarnath temple, is located at an altitude of 3,580 m, near Chorabari glacier, which is the source of the Mandakini river. Dedicated to Lord Shiva, the ancient temple has exquisite architecture and is built of extremely large but evenly shaped grey stone slabs. A conical rock formation inside the temple is worshipped as Lord Shiva in his “Sadashiva” form. The Kedarnath temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva, is a part of Char Dham pilgrimage circuit, and is one of the 12 Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva in India. Behind the Kedarnath temple, stand the Kedarnath peak, Kedar Dome and other Himalayan peaks.

The historical name of this region is "Kedar Khand" and legend says, the Pandavas from the epic Mahabharata, after having defeated the Kauravas, felt guilty of having killed so many people and sought the blessings of Lord Shiva for redemption. The Lord eluded them repeatedly and took refuge at Kedarnath in the form of a bull. The Lord dived into the ground, leaving his hump on the surface at Kedarnath. The remaining portions of Lord Shiva appeared at four other places and are worshipped there as his manifestations. The arms of the Lord appeared at T

The Kedarnath temple is one of the 12 Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva and forms one of the four sites of the Char Dham pilgrimage. Built of large-sized rocks on a rectangular platform, the temple houses a Shiva Lingam in an unusual pyramidal form. Inscriptions in ancient Pali script adorn the stone steps leading to the sanctum of the temple. A statue of Nandi bull, the divine mount of Lord Shiva, sits facing the temple's main door. The temple is set against the Kedarnath peak (6,940 m), and behind it is a large rock (called Bheem Shila) that locals say hurtled down the mountains during the floods of 2013 and stopped a little away from the main shrine, diverting flood waters from damaging Lord Shiva's abode. The present structure is believed to be more than 1,200 years old - legend says that the original temple was built by the Pandavas of the epic Mahabharata - and the present temple was established by sage Adi Shankaracharya, around the 8th century AD.