The portals of the Kedarnath Temple were opened on Wednesday amid the nationwide lockdown in the country that had been imposed in order to curb the coronavirus outbreak.
The doors of the Lord Shiva temple were opened at 6.10 am.
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However, no pilgrims were allowed to visit the temple in view of the nationwide lockdown and the first puja at the shrine was attended by members of the temple committee and administrative officials.
The first puja or ‘rudrabishek’ was performed on behalf of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The portals of the four famous Himalayan shrines — Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri — are opened every year between April and May after a six-month closure during which they remain completely snowbound.
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The Gangotri and Yamunotri shrines were opened on April 26 and the Badrinath Temple will open on May 15.
The Kedarnath Temple is not directly accessible by road and has to be reached by a 22 km uphill trek from Gaurikund.
The temple which is the highest among the twelve Jyotirlingas is one of four major sites in India’s Cota Char Dham pilgrimage of the northern Himalayas.
There are five temples surrounding the Kedarnath Temple which include Badari-kear, Madhya Maheswara, Tunganatha, Rudranatha and Kallesvara.