The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s9.90

c5.s9.90

Kedara—Kedâranâtha, situated on the southern side of the junction of the Mandâkinî and the Dudhgangâ The temple of the Kedâranâtha, one of the twelve great Lingas of Mahâdeva, is built on a ridge jutting out at right angle from the snowy range of the Rudra Himalaya below the peak of the Mahâpanthâ in the district of Garwal, United Provinces (see Amaresvara) A sacred stream called Mandâkinî or the Kalî gangâ has its rise about two days' journey from Kedarnatha from a lake which is said to produce blue lotus, and it joins the Alakânandâ at Rudraprayâga It requires eight days to go from Kedâra to Badrinath, although the distance along a straight line between them is short It is 15 or 16 days' journey from Haridvâra to Kedâranâtha The peak of Kedâranâtha is said in the Śiva Purâṇa (Pt. I, ch. 47) to be situated at Badarikâ-âśrama. The worship of Kedâranâtha is said to have been established by the Pâṇḍavas (see Pañcha-kedâra). Close to the temple is a precipice called Bhairab Jhâmp, where devotees committed suicide by flinging themselves from the summit. (Dr. Führer’s MAI.; Imperial Gazetteer, vol. VIII, s.v. Kedarnath). Śaṅkarâchârya died at this place (Mâdhavâchârya’s Śaṅkaravijaya, ch. 16). Near the temple is a Kuṇḍa called Reta-Kuṇḍa where Kârttika is said to have been born. (Skanda P., Maheśvara Kh., I, 27; II, 29). Ushi-maṭh is 32 miles lower; it contains the images of Mândhâtâ and the five Pâṇḍavas.