Tungonath Temple | Story of Tungnath Temple | Highest Shiva temple in the world | BHOLENATH

Tungnath Mahadev Temple is located in the Chamoli district of Garhwal, Uttarakhand.
This temple dedicated to Lord Shiva situated on Tungnath mountain
It is the tallest Shiva temple in the world.
This temple is situated at an altitude of about 3,680 meters above sea level.

Tungnath Temple, one of the Panchkedars, has more importance than the other four Kedars, as this place is associated with Lord Shiva as well as Mother Parvati, Lord Shri Ram, and Ravana. It is believed that this temple was built by the Pandavas to please Lord Shiva.

After the war of Mahabharata, the Pandavas were very distraught because of the guilt of killing their own brothers, they went to Maharishi Ved Vyas regarding this distraught. Vedvyas then told the Pandavas that only Lord Shiva could save them from the sin of killing Brahma.

The Pandavas reached the Himalayan Mountains in search of Lord Shiva, but the Lord was angry with the Pandavas and did not want to appear to the Pandavas. So, seeing the Pandavas coming, he assumed the form of a buffalo and joined the herd of buffaloes.

When the Pandavas saw the herd of buffaloes, Bhima recognized Lord Shiva and followed them. But Bhima could not catch the Lord.
So Bhima assumed his giant form and spread his legs on two mountains, all the animals came out from under the feet of Bhima but Lord Shiva in the form of a buffalo did not go under the feet of Bhima and started disappearing. Then Bhima took hold of the buffalo’s back and installed it. Since then, Lord Shiva is worshiped in Kedarnath in the form of a bull or buffalo back.

When Lord Shiva started disappearing, his arms appeared in Tungnath, his face in Rudranath, his navel in Madhyamaheshwar, and his hair in Kalpeshwar. In this way, Lord Shiva left his body in five places which are known as “Panch Kedar”.