A day after portals of Gangotri were closed for the winters, the sacred portals of the Himalayan shrine of Kedarnath were also closed for the winter season on Monday amid a fresh spell of snowfall.
The gates of the temple, which houses one of the 11 jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva and attracts devotees from across the world, were closed at 8:30 am after an elaborate ceremony. The temple priest also performed a ‘Samadhi Puja’ of Lord Shiva.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath, and officials of Devasthanam Board, among others, attended the ceremony.
Snowfall accompanied by a drizzle began in Kedarnath on Sunday night and continued till the morning. Ironically, this year Kedarnath region has experienced heavy snowfall and even on the day of temple opening, there was more than 4 feet snow around the temple route. Similarly, there was a snowfall on the day of closing as well!
After the ceremony, an idol of Lord Shiva left on board a flower bedecked palanquin, also called Utsav Doli, for the Omkareshwar Temple in Ukhimath where he will be worshipped during the winter season.
The temple at Kedarnath shrine was opened on 29th April 2020 after all the religious rituals. People say, that it was perhaps the first time in their memory when there were nor people at the time of the prayers during opening of the portals- no pilgrims, no local people. Though the temple gates were opened on April 29, it was open only for priests until July 1. Closing of portals still turned out to be an elaborate affair though.
Because of nationwide lockdown at that time, administration had not allowed people to move towards Kedarnath. Just 20 people from temple staff and 15 from police and administration were present there.
Doli of Lord Kedarnath is taken from Ukhimath to Kedarnath temple every year at the time of opening. This journey takes around three days. First night it stays at Doli Phata and second night at Gaurikund. Gaurikund to Kedarnath is a 14 km trek.
Pilgrims were gradually allowed from July this year to undertake Char Dham Yatra as the lockdown was eased. Initially only pilgrims from state were allowed and later pilgrims from all around the country were allowed to visit the four holy shrines in Himalayas.
This year, 1,35,023 pilgrims visited Kedarnath, which had a delayed and restricted opening for devotees due to COVID-19.
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