The process of opening the doors of Kedar Dham began at 3 am. Shiva Shankar Linga, the chief priest of the shrine, carried out the tradition of opening the doors. The first 'pooja' was performed in the name of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said a statement.
The transmogrification of Prime Minister Modi to Saint Modi began with the ground-breaking ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. By identifying himself with Lord Ram, Modi raised himself in popular imagination to a saintly person.
Every week, we bring you fascinating videos, chosen by you, through your likes.
During the winter, Badrinath's 45 kg of gold and 35 kg of silver is kept at the Narsingh temple in Joshimath, located about half a kilometre from the houses which have developed cracks because of the subsidence.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Wednesday visited Kedarnath to review the preparations in view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the Himalayan temple on November 5.
'This is probably why the late General Bipin Rawat, who hails from the Garhwal Himalaya, said that the existing roads are fine with the army.'
"After taking into account all suggestions, we have decided not to hold live streaming of Chardham Yatra as it is not written in the Vedas. We are also going to file an affidavit in the high court in this regard," the CM said.
Refusing to buy the argument, the bench of Chief Justice R S Chauhan and Justice Alok Kumar Verma said if the Devasthanam Board decides not to permit live streaming of the rituals on this ground, it will have to quote a line from the scripture in support of the argument.
Speaking on the occasion, Modi said the flag unfurled at the temple is not just symbol of our spirituality, but shows that our faith remains strong despite passage of centuries, and added that the centres of faith and spiritual glory of India are now being re-established.
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and state Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu, who have not been on the same page over certain appointments, Tuesday said they will work with each other and fight the upcoming polls together, according to party MLAs.
'The problem is that all this reconstruction work is being monitored by the prime minister himself with inputs being provided directly by the PMO so nobody in the state government dare contradict them even if their suggestions are totally contrary to what the ecology of this region requires.'
Controversial Punjabi singer Sidhu Mussewala, who joined the Congress sometime ago will contest from Mansa and actor Sonu Sood's sister Malvika Sood from Moga.
The temple doors were opened at 8.50 am and the prime minister arrived just about half an hour later to offer prayers and perform a 'rudrabhishek'.
Lifting the ban on the yatra, a division bench of the court comprising Chief Justice R S Chauhan and Justice Alok Kumar Verma said the pilgrimage will start with restrictions like a daily limit on the number of devotees visiting the temples.
The TMC leader said all these moves were well calculated with the "ill intention to influence the voters" on the polling day.
Modi said he was at a loss of words to describe what he felt while he was sitting before the statue.
A day after Kedarnath, the portals of famous Himalayan shrine of Badrinath were reopened on Monday for pilgrims after a gap of six months.
A team of experts of Archaeological Survey of India has found that the north eastern outer wall of the sanctum sanctorum of Kedarnath temple was slightly damaged at some places.
The Kedarnath Temple in Uttarakhand was "partially destroyed" and suffered serious damages in the recent floods but government would make all efforts to restore it to its "original glory", Minister of Culture Chandresh Kumari Katoch said on Wednesday.
Addressing a gathering of priests and devotees, he said the redevelopment of centres of faith in India shows the country's growing pride in its ancient saints and philosophers like Adi Guru Shankaracharya and Swami Vivekananda.
Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee chief Mohan Prasad Thapliyal said the prime minister offered prayers at the temple for around 20 minutes and was given a greeting card made on a "bhojpatra" (birch leaves) by the temple's priests.
Here's a recap of the events from the past 24 hours.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi is trekking 18 kilometres up in the mountains of Uttarakhand to the Kedarnath Temple.
Just what do actors *do* the whole day?
Bihar Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ashwani Choubey and his family, who were stranded in a temple in Kedarnath, have been rescued and brought to Dehradun by a helicopter on Thursday.
'This individual's constant endeavour at self-glorification, even at the cost of both the government and the party, has the potential to subvert whatever genuine efforts that Channi has been making since he became CM.'
BJP leader Uma Bharti, who was suspended from the party on November 10 for indiscipline, arrived at the Kedarnath temple in Uttaranchal on Friday evening.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi will undertake a yatra to Kedarnath on Thursday, trekking 18 km up into the Uttarkhand mountains to pay obeisance at the temple which faced the brunt of flash-floods two years ago and has since been spruced up.
'How much rain fell on June 16 and 17 is NOT known because the area of Kedarnath is not covered by the Indian Meteorological Department,' M Shashidhar Reddy, vice chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority tells Sheela Bhatt. Because of this, the NDMA will not know "what exactly happened over there, in and around the Kedarnath temple."
Snowfall in the higher reaches of Garhwal Himalayas and intermittent rains in lower areas affected the Char Dham yatra on Tuesday with the pilgrimage to the famous Kedarnath shrine suspended till May 16 and yatra to Badrinath halted temporarily.
A Rs 195 crore-package was announced by the government on Friday for reconstruction of the 'Char Dham' pilgrimage circuit, which was badly affected by the Uttarakhand rain disaster.
The eighth century shrine at Kedarnath withstood the cloudbursts and floods that swept away its neighbourhood and much of the town last month.
In the first edition of his popular monthly radio address after Bharatiya Janata Party's mega victory in the Lok Sabha election, PM Modi said he was undergoing a bout of emptiness as he was not able to address the nation through Mann Ki Baat.
Greeting the jawans on the occasion, the prime minister said their devotion to duty in the remote icy heights, is enabling the strength of the nation, and securing the future and the dreams of 125 crore Indians,
After failing to trace her parents, who had gone to Kedarnath pilgrimage, a 35-year-old woman allegedly committed suicide in Gwalior, police said on Saturday.
The next two days are very crucial in terms of rescuing the maximum number of pilgrims and tourists stranded in rain-hit Uttarakhand as heavy showers may come anytime, a senior official said.
Bihar Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ashwani Choubey and his family, who were stranded in a temple in Kedarnath, have been rescued and brought to Dehradun by a helicopter on Thursday.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Friday rejected criticism that his party practised politics of minorityism but asserted it cannot close its eyes to the discrimination against Muslims and other sections including Dalits.
Rescue agencies are facing tough challenge from local residents of various villages of Uttarakhand as they too are fleeing the affected areas along with stranded tourists and pilgrims.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances