Kedarnath is one of the four dhams of the north – Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri (the actual four dhams are Badrinath, Dwarka, Jagannath Puri and Rameshwaram). It is also one of the 12 jyotirlingas in India and the highest of all. Kedarnath is considered extremely holy and also very difficult to reach.
But the actual history of Kedarnath starts with Pandavas. It was after the war of Mahabharatha that the Pandavas along with Draupadi were looking for penance. It was a deep sin to kill your own kin and they were seeking forgiveness from Lord Shiva in the highlands of the Himalayas. They spotted Lord Shiva right where the Kedarnath shrine is today.
Lord Shiva was not ready to forgive them. So he disguised himself as a bull and buried himself in the ground so that he could not be identified. However, the Pandavas did identify him and Bhima tugged at his tail and hind legs. Lord Shiva was buried deeper into the earth and reappeared in five places – the hump in Kedarnath, the arms in Tunganath, the belly in Madhyamaheshwar, the face in Rudranath and the head in Kalpeshwar. These together make the Panch Kedar.
The Pandavas eventually built temples at all five of these places that freed them from their sins.
