Badrinath- An Eternal Pilgrimage

Badrinath Dham is one of the most sacred pilgrimage places of Hindus in India. This temple is known to be tribute to Lord Vishnu and hence is called Badri Vishal and Badrinarayan Mandir. It is also one of the beautiful tourist places in Uttrakhand state. There are three more known Baridhams other than this Dham (shrine), which are Rameshwaram (in South India), Dwarka (in West India), Puri (in East India) but Badrinath is the only dham that is consider as "Mokshadham".

It is the one of the oldest Hindu shrine, lies on the bank of Alaknanda River at an altitude of 3133 mt above the sea level. The renovation of the temple is at regular intervals to make it more strikingly beautiful tourist place. The main door of the temple is very colourful and popularly called as Singhdwar. This venerated place once carpeted with berries after which it also called Badrivan i.e, “the forest of berries”.

Route from Rishikesh

SunRise at Govindghat

Govindghat (Starting Point to Hemkund Sahib & Valley of Flower)

The story of Badrinath

Badrinath dham is one of the important holy place of Hindu in all pilgrimage in India. It is situated in Nar-Narayan parvat and Alaknanda River flowing nearby. This temple is known to be dedicated to Lord Vishnu and hence is also called Badri Vishal and Badrinarayan Mandir.

It is belived that Lord Vishu came here for his penance and seeing this Goddess Laxmi turned into the Badri ( a berry tree) to provide shelter to the Lord Vishnu and to save him for adverse weather conditions. After completing his meditation, Lord Vishu noticed that there was no tree when he had started. Then through his vision he confirmed that in real that tree was goddess Laxmi and at last, happily Lord Vishu said to his wife that whenever my devotees will remember me, then they will first take your name and then mine and hence the place is called as BadriNath- Badri (Laxmi), Nath(Vishu ji).

Badrinath Temple

Inside Badrinath Temple

There are three parts inside the temple called the Garbha Griha, the Darshan Mandap and the Sabha Mandap.

The Garbha Griha - This area covered with gold sheet presented by Queen Ahilyabai. There is an attractive image of Lord vishu, which is 1 metre in height.

The Darshan Mandap - Here lord Vishnu is sitting in padmasana (a yogic posture). Other images are of Uddhava, Narayana, Narad muni, Lord kubera( lord of wealth), Silver Ganesha and Garuda.

The Sabha Mandap - Here devotees assemble for worshipping the god.

Badrinath Market

Landslide enroute to Badrinath

Taxi stand at Badrinath

Srinagar

Place of Interest

Apart from the main temple, there are lot more places to ramble around like

Tapt Kund- It is the holy dip for devotees to relax in and it is customary to take dip before worshipping.

Neelkanth- It is snow peak behind the temple,

Sheshnetra, Charanpaduka and many other beautiful places. The best time to visit this beautiful Badrinath temple is between May to October, as the Kapat or the door of temple remain opened from starting of May to the second week of November.