Char Dham Yatra 2023: Is Kannada Used For Worship Rituals At Kedarnath Temple in Uttaranchal?

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Kedarnath temple stands as a divine example for North South Unity which has taken a good step towards sealing the North South divide years back in time. The priestly rituals are carried out by Rawals who are otherwise known in South India as Verra Shaiva Sangam Community of Karnataka. In Kedarnath they are known as Rawals.

The Rawal does not personally do the puja as the head priest but guides his assistants who in fact do the puja. There are five senior priests who, on turns are appointed as Rawals for one year. Puja is carried out in Kannada with absolutely no change in the pattern or sequence since 10th century AD. The Shiva Linga is carried to Ukhimath in winters along with a procession in a flower bedecked palanquin and the same process repeats when it is brought back to Kedarnath six months later.

The priests officiating at, the head of which is the Rawal of Kedarnath. Veerashaiva jangamas head as the officiating priests at Kedar, Guptkashi, Ukhimath and Madhmaheswar which belong to the establishment of the math at Ukhimath. Rawal belongs to the shaiva ascetic sect of Jangama or Mahant or Rawal who has disciples from Malabar. The jangamas at Himachal worship Lord Shiva or Mahadev especially in the form of Linga.

The priests at -Tungnath, Trijuginarayan and Kalimath, are local people from the hills who work under the directions of Rawal. Tungnath priests normally prefer their priests to be from South India. Khasi brahmins and local brahmins from Mokumath also officiate as priests at the Tunganath temple. Jangamas who are pure Veerashaiva Lingayats from Mysore are the appointed chief priests at the Madhyamaheswar temple as well.

Namboodari Priests

Namboodiri brahmins hailing from Malabar, in Kerala officiate as chief priests at Badrinath temple and they are known by the name Rawals. chief priests in Rudranath and Kalpeshwar temples are Dasnami Gosains who were initiated by Adi Shankaracharya.
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Kedarnath Tirth Purohits

Kedarnath Teerth Purohits are also known as Pandas who are the original and ancient brahmins of Kedarkhand who existed during the time when Pandavas came to Himalaya to achieve liberation at the feet of Mahadev. They left to Mahapanth after which the grandson Janamejaya came to Kedarnath and appointed these panda brahmins as the rightful officiating priests for the temple of Kedarnath. Total number of such brahmins were 360 in number.

National Integration Among Priests

There is yet another viewpoint to this same premise which says that the arrangements of this kind made by Adi Shankara was to achieve national integration. Adi Shankara preferrd to have Joshis from Kashi, Kashmir, Nepal, or Maharashtra to be the priests for Rameshwaram temple, the Chowbe brahmins from Orissa to be serving at Dwaraka, and Puri Jagannath priests should be picked from Pandas in Gujarat.

Himalayan temples of Badrinath, Kedarnath and Pashupatinath in Nepal, have South Indians as head priests. Badrinath has a Nambudari priest, Kedarnath appoints Veerashaiva Jangama from Karnataka as head priest whereas it is Tulu Brahmin community that heads the priestly services at Pashupati nath temple.

Malayali Brahmin Priests

There are two types of Nambudari brahmins, -the namboodaris and Embranthiris. While Namboodaris are hardcore orthodox and never stir out of their homeland., the Embranthiris are a little more liberal. So they did not have any hesitation in joining Badrinath as priests when they were invited to be so. Embranthiris outnumber Namboodaris in their homeland and hence probably they were chosen because they were in majority.