Sthalapurana of Kedarnath — The Hump of the Bull

After the War

Victory at Kurukshetra brought Yudhishthira no peace. The weight of kinsmen slain — teachers, cousins, grandfathers — sat on the Pandavas as brahmahatya, the sin of killing brahmin-blooded kin, which nothing but Shiva's own grace could wash away. The five brothers left their kingdom and walked north: Ayodhya, Haridwar, Rishikesh, and up into the snow.

The Bull in the Herd

Shiva did not appear. He had watched the blood run, and forgiveness would not come cheaply. Disguised as a bull, he hid among the cattle herds grazing the high valley.

Bhima — who could stand astride two mountain shoulders — saw that whenever the bull looked toward the pilgrims, the herd followed its glance. He leapt, and seized the bull by its back. The animal plunged into the earth itself. What remained above ground in Bhima's grip was the hump, which hardened into the stone liṅga worshipped at Kedarnath.

Shiva relented then: the seeking itself was your purification. Where the other parts of the bull surfaced, four more shrines rose — together the Panch Kedar: Kedarnath (the hump), Tungnath (the arms), Rudranath (the face), Madhyamaheshwar (the navel), Kalpeshwar (the hair).

The Eighth Century

Adi Shankaracharya restored the temple in the early medieval period; his samadhi is traditionally placed just behind it. The stone temple's massive grey blocks are fitted without mortar, and pilgrims are shown rock marks said to be those of the Pandavas' own passage.

The Boulder of 2013

In June 2013, floodwater and glacier-melt tore through the valley, taking thousands of lives and the whole town around it. A boulder the size of a house came down the slope — and stopped directly behind the temple, splitting the flood around the shrine. Pilgrims call it Bhim Shila. Scientists call it chance. Both are allowed to.