Portals of Uttarakhand's Kedarnath Dham shuts for Winter

Rudraprayag (Uttarakhand) [India], October 27 : The portals of the Kedarnath Dham were closed on Thursday morning for the Winter season.
The doors of the eleventh Jyotirlinga Lord Kedarnath were shut for the winter as per rituals with chanting of Vedic hymns accompanied by music played by local musical instruments, the tunes of the army band, and cheers of scores of devotees.
The doors of the famed Himalayan shrine were shut at around 8.20 am today.
As per traditions, it is believed that after the portals are shut, Lord Kedarnath becomes austere for six months of winter in the Himalayas for the welfare of the world.
After the doors of the sanctum sanctorum were shut, the Panchmukhi movable Vigraha Utsav Doli (palanquin) of Lord Kedarnath was specially decorated.
At exactly 8.30 in the morning, the palanquin of Lord Kedarnath was brought to the temple premises from the mandap amidst cheers from assembled devotees.
After circumambulating thrice the main temple, the palanquin was taken in a procession to the winter seat of Okareshwar Temple in Ukhimath.
Traditionally, the gates of the shrine are closed for six months during winter before it opens again.
This year the Chardham Yatra began on Akshaya Tritiya, on May 3 this year while the doors of Kedarnath Temple opened on May 6.
Earlier on October 26, the sanctum sanctorum of Kedarnath Dham was decorated with gold.
The walls and ceiling of the sanctum sanctorum were given a new look with 550 gold layers.
Shri Badrinath Kedarnath Temple Committee President Ajendra Ajay told ANI that the work of golden decoration of the sanctum sanctorum of Kedarnath temple was completed Wednesday morning.
A six-member team from IIT Roorkee, Central Building Research Roorkee, and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) visited Kedarnath Dham and inspected the sanctum sanctorum of the temple.
The work of applying gold lining in the sanctum sanctorum of Kedarnath temple had begun only after a report from these experts.