Amid chanting of Vedic hymns and blowing of conch shells, a team of 25-30 priests, led by Rawal Bhima Shankar ling Shivacharya, first carried out shuddikaran (purification) and prayashchitikaran (atonement for prolonged suspension of prayers at the shrine) and then resumed prayers on Wednesday as per rituals associated with the Kedarnath shrine — 86 days after ravaging floods left many people dead in the Kedar valley.

Although Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna could not visit the temple due to inclement weather conditions, prayers resumed in the presence of State Cabinet Minister Harak Singh Rawat and Kedarnath MlA Shaila Rani Rawat.

The deathly silence brooding over Kedarnath since the June calamity hit Uttarakhand broke early this morning and positive energy reverberated through the Kedar valley, even as it remained enveloped in thick fog on Wednesday. September 11 was chosen as the date to resume prayers as today’s ‘Sarwartha Siddi Yog’ was considered to be auspicious.

Formal daily worship was resumed at Kedarnath on Wednesday. According to the previously determined programme to begin puja, shuddikaran (purification rites) were performed at 7 am in the temple and temple premises, and the abhishek of the Deity was done at 8 am, which was attended by the designated haq-haqooqdhari Jamloki —the ‘Dharmadhikari’ of the Brahmin Temple Acharya Omkar Shukla, Samalia Umesh Bhatt, Rameshwar Jamloki, Kailash Joshi, among others.

This was followed by a shanti havan and worship was performed. Present on the occasion as the representative of the Chief Minister was Cabinet Minister Harak Singh Rawat. Also present were Temple Committee Chairman Ganesh Godiyal, local MlA Shailarani Rawat, Vice Chairperson Madhu Bhatt, Vice-President of the Bio-Diversity Board laxmi Rana, DM Dilip Javalkar, SP Barinderjit Singh, holy men and officials of the Temple Committee.