“The Badrinath” – Char Dham Yatra: The Four Abodes of God (Chapter 4)

Hello everyone! Happy New Year! I know that three months of 2024 have already passed but as this is our first blog of 2024, I wanted to wish you all Happy New Year!  So, again, really sorry for not uploading any blogs since last December as I had my finals coming up.

So, today we will be going to talk about our last Dham, The Badrinath Dham. The Badrinath temple, also known as the Badrinarayan Temple is a shrine located in Badrinath town of Uttarakhand, India and is one of the most prominent Dhams of the Char Dham Yatra. The Badrinath Temple is also a part among the 108 divya desams incarnation of Lord Vishnu and is known to be one of the holy shrines for Vaishnavites.

The Badrinath Dham

Like other Dhams, The Badrinath Dham is situated in the Garhwal Himalayas, on the banks of the Alaknanda River and lies between Nar and Narayana Mountain ranges. This temple is believed to be established by Sage Adi Shankaracharya in the 8th Century.

Adi Shankaracharya, also known as Adi Shankara, was an Indian Vedic scholar and teacher. He was mainly known for his philosophical thoughts and ideas. He was responsible for defining the Hindu religion in its current form. He was said to have constructed approximately 4 temples that were built in different parts of present India.

As Winston Churchill rightly said, “The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.” Knowing about the historical stories that were related to the temple is very vital and that is why, we will have a look at the backstory of the Badrinath Dham. We still don’t really know the exact date of creation of Badrinath Dham temple, but it can be estimated to be at a time period between 500– 1750 BC as the Vedic scriptures say. Initially, till the 8th century, the shrine was believed to be a Buddhist monastery due to its architectural design, however, in order to reawaken the feeling of Hinduism among the Indian population, Adi Shankaracharya was said to have met with King Kanak who was also popularly known as Raja Kanakpal of Paramara dynasty, who was the founder of the Garhwal Kingdom for helping him re-establish a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu. After this meeting, this monastery had gone through a lot of architectural changes and renovations since it was vulnerable to dangerous avalanches and landslides and was later constructed to the present day Badrinath Dham that millions of people go to worship in their lives.

 The Badrinath temple’s architecture is as detailed and beautiful as its rich history is and consists of three main structures – the Garbhagriha (sanctum), which is approximately 15m tall with a small cupola on top covered with a gold gilt roof, the Darshan Mandapa (worship hall) and the Sabha Mandapa (convention hall).

The walls and pillars of the hall are intricately designed with beautiful carvings. The shrine encompasses a foot long Shaligram, that is the black stone deity of Badrinarayana and is situated under a Badri Tree. The deity shows him (Badrinarayana) holding a Shankha (conch) and a Chakra (wheel) in his two arms in a lifted poster and the other two arms resting on his lap in Padmasana posture.

The sanctum of the Badrinath Dham also houses several images of the god of wealth Kubera, sage Uddhava, Nara, Narayana and many more sages. Located right below the Badrinath temple, is the Tapt Kund that is a group of hot sulphur springs that are maintained a temperature of around 55 degrees Celsius and consist of two water ponds and they are called Narad Kund and Surya Kund respectively.

The Badrinath Dham, that opens in the month of April/May and closes in the month of October is a destination where many rituals, festivals and traditions are taken place along with its daily pujas that include the Maha Abhishek, Abhishek, Gita Paath and the Bhagavat pujas. Some festivals celebrated here are:

1.          Mata Murti Ka Mela: A fair called Mata Murti Ka Mela is held at this temple ever September, where the image of Uddhav is taken out of the temple and to the Mata Murti Mandir that is present near the temple, which commemorates the descent of river Ganges on Mother Earth.

2.        Badri Kedar Utsav: The Badir Kedar Utsav that takes place for a week consists of cultural festivals held at both Badrinath and Kedarnath and is organised in July/August.

3.       Krishna Janmashtami: This festival celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna in Mathura who is the 8th avatar of Lord Vishnu. This festival is celebrated in the Badrinath temple with special pujas all day and night every August.

So, this was all about the Badrinath Dham and its history, architecture and about its religious importance. Hope you found this blog interesting and informative. Lastly, I would like to end with a quote by Epictetus, where she says that “All religions must be tolerated… for every man must get to heaven in his own way.” Thank You!

Credits:

Sources like wikipedia.org and others for images and info.