Place · winter temple town · India
Ukhimath
The Omkareshwar temple at Ukhimath houses Kedarnath's utsava murti from Bhai Dooj until Akshaya Tritiya. It also shelters the deity of Madmaheshwar, one of the Panch Kedar, and hosts the Rawal priest's winter court.
- Periods
- Classical and Puranic Age, Regional Flourishing, Islamic Age and Bhakti Traditions, Early Modern Age, British Colonial Age, Republic and Living Practice
- Function
- Sacred site & pilgrimage
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 30.510, 79.100
Connections (3)
- Sacred transplantKedāranāth
Kedarnath at 3,583 metres holds one of the twelve jyotirlingas as an irregular rock said to be Shiva's hump. On Bhai Dooj the utsava murti moves to the Omkareshwar temple at Ukhimath in Rudraprayag district, which also shelters the deity of Madmaheshwar and houses the Rawal's winter court — so for half the year the chief priest of Kedarnath, traditionally a Virashaiva from Karnataka, holds his office from a valley town a day's walk below.
- Site adjacencyRudraprayāg
Ukhimath, where Kedarnath's utsava murti rests from Bhai Dooj to Akshaya Tritiya, lies forty kilometres up the Mandakini from Rudraprayag, and Rudraprayag is the road and river gateway to it. That ties the confluence into the seasonal machinery of the high shrine: the deity, the Rawal and the priesthood all come down this valley in November and go back up in April, past the same confluence twice a year.
- TransmissionMadhyamaheshwar
When the high shrines close under snow, the deities of both Kedarnath and Madhyamaheshwar come down to Ukhimath, where the Omkareshwar temple holds them from Bhai Dooj to Akshaya Tritiya and the Rawal keeps his winter court. The town carries the ritual continuity of the whole circuit through the closed months, and it is where the administration of these shrines actually sits.
Sources
Wikipedia, “Ukhimath”. Archaeological Survey of India and State Archaeology monument records, and the standard regional literature.
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