Kedarnath has been a pilgrimage centre since ancient times.The temple's construction is credited to the Pandava brothers mentioned in the Mahabharata.[5][6] However, the Mahabharata does not mention any place called Kedarnath. One of the earliest references to Kedarnath occurs in the Skanda Purana (c. 7th-8th century), which names Kedara (Kedarnath) as the place where Lord Shiva released the holy waters of Ganga from his matted hair, resulting in the formation of the Ganges River.[7]

According to the hagiographies based on Madhava's Sankshepa-Shankara-Vijaya, the 8th century philosopher Adi Shankaracharya died near the Kedarnath mountains; although other hagiographies, based on Anandagiri's Prachina-Shankara-Vijaya, state that he died at Kanchipuram. The ruins of a monument marking the purported resting place of Adi Shankaracharya are located at Kedarnath.[8] Kedarnath was definitely a prominent pilgrimage centre by the 12th century when it is mentioned in Kritya-kalpataru written by the Gahadavala minister Bhatta Lakshmidhara.[9]