Kedar Nath & Badri Narayan - Swami Vivekananda

24 KEDAR NATH AND BADRI NARAYANhas flowed over Kamaleswara in its time, for thereare scores of votive tablets carved with the feet ofthe Lord. But the place has never forgotten itsSaivite origin, and claims to have been visited bySankaracharya, which we should certainly expect tohave been the case. The old temple of the FivePandavas, stands on the roadway into Srinagar.Was there once an intention of laying out thewhole country with temples dedicated in order tothe heroes and munis of the national epic? Oneshrinks from the thought of a task so gigantic, butthere seems some reason to think it may have beencontemplated, and the fact that most of these mustsince have dissappeared, is no real argument againstit. The Himalayan kingdom has always been insuch vital contact with the Hinduism of the plains,through sadhus and pilgrims and merchants, that ithas shared to the full in each period as it rose, andeach wave has been followed by another striving toefface the traces of that which preceded it. In thisparticular temple of the Five Pandavas, the Vaishnavismof Ramanuja has left its mark. There is agrotesque image of Narada worshipped here whichis said to commemorate the primeval stOayambara,where Narayana chose Lakshmi to be his spouse.The bride shrank from the appearance of Narada,who sat immediately in front of his master, andlooked at Narayana himself instead. This was indeedthe end to be attained, for she was the destinedbride of God. But the method involved a wound to