Dehradun: Prime Minister Narendra Modi enchants prayer here at Kedarnath temple as the shrine was reopened after six month long winter break.
Modi offered prayers at the Shiva temple and did ‘rudrabhishek’ which involves bathing the Shiva Linga with Ganges water, milk and honey, among others.
Apart from paying obeisance at the sacred Himalayan shrine, He waved to the crowd of about 2,500 devotees present at the opening of the gates of one of the holiest Hindu shrines.
The Kedarnath shrine in this hill state is one of the major components of the annual Chaar Dhaam pilgrimage.
The Kedarnath Valley was destroyed in a flash flood in 2013 but the temple premises was thankfully saved of any major devastation.
Thousands had died in the natural calamity and hundreds went missing. Restoration work is underway at the temple, its route and the surroundings.
Earlier Modi landed at the Jolly Grant airport here in a special IAF plane and was received by Uttarakhand Governor K.K. Paul, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, state ministers and other BJP leaders.
Thereafter, he left for Kedarnath in a chopper. Later, the Prime Minister inaugurated a multi-crore state-of-art research centre at Patanjali Yogpeeth in the presence of Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev.
Kedarnath is considered the most important of the four Himalayan shrines on the ‘Chardham’ pilgrimage circuit.
