Badrinath

The holy place Badrinath is popular pilgrimage spot especially for Hindu’s. However, tourists from around the world are reaching to Badrinath to take blessings of lord Vishnu. This Hindu sacred town is located in Chamoli region, Uttarakhand, India. Badrinath is added to the India's Char Dham Yatra (Journey). The name of the city is given after the temple Badrinath.

 

Evaluating the height of the temple from the sea level it is approximately 3,415 meters. The Garhwal hills surrounding the temple are special feelings like never before. The Alaknanda River flowing from the Badrinath hills is having religious values. Badrinath town is located among the Nar and Narayana hill ranges, though the other side of town is covered by Nilkantha peak. As per data Badrinath is the town and a religious place situated on high hills of Garhwal. Rishikesh is only 301 km away from Badrinath that means people get chance to reach another holy place of India. Reaching to Badrinath through road from Gaurikund require journey of 233 kms. The nature beauty during the journey could be memorable moment for the visitors.

Experts suggest that Badrinath area is recognized as Badari or Badarika Ashram as per Hindu scriptures. The town is the sacred place of Lord Vishnu also known as Nara-Narayana temple.

The high hills of Badrinath are described in the Mahabharata as well. According to Mahabharata Pandavas ended their life after falling from the slopes of the peak. The place is known as Swargarohini which means way to heaven. The spiritual cave where Maharishi Vyas wrote the Mahabharata is also located just 4 km distance from Badrinath temple.

Journey to the temple is adventurous so people will definitely enjoy the difficult way to reach the town and temple. Badrinath temple is just few kms away from the border of China and it takes around two-day journey to reach though the journey is completely done by talking starts from Kedarnath. Hemkund Sahib is also the very important religious spot of Hindu’s and Sikh communities. The wonder Gurudwara (Shri Guru Ka Dwar) is located on the way of Badrinath. In summer season Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib is complete full with crowd so planning to visit the temple in summer could be little hard. The roads to reach temple are managed by local administration so tourist can enjoy the public transport or own vehicle to reach the shrine. Talking about finest time to attain Badrinath temple is from June to September, though in summer also visitors should carry their warm clothes as temperature can change anytime in this town.

As per history Badrinath town and the temple was re-structured by Adi Shankara in 9^th century. Badrinath was the unknown place till last ages because of difficult ways to reach the temple. However, after the independence it becomes the most sacred and known place to the world due to available sources. Presently the temple is gaining popularity significantly and around 600,000 devotees are reaching Badrinath temple in season. According to data provided after calculation in 2006 approximately 90,676 people increased comparing to earlier period. Vaishnavs reach the Badrinath in large amount due to their strict rules and religious values.

Those who read the scriptures or legends might know that Badrinath is mentioned as the major and biggest holy place from long years.

Major attraction:

Badrinath temple: the shrine is the major spot for visitors particularly for those who need blessings of God Badrinath. As per old records the black stone is structured of God Badrinarayan from the Saligram stone taken from Alaknanda River. Actually the idol was established in the cave close to Tapt Kund (hot springs). However, the idol was moved to the present temple in 16^th century by the Ruler of Garhwal.

As the temple is very old so several renovations are done at regular intervals. The major damages to the shrine are done by avalanche. The expansion was also done in late 17^th century by the rulers of Garhwal. The big damage to the Badrinath temple was occurred in 1803 when the earthquake came in Himalayan ranges. Talking about the structure of Badrinath shrine its height is around 50 ft from the ground having small cupola on upper area.

Some other spots for visitors are northern math recognized by Shri Adi Sankara close to Jyotirmath. Haridwar and Rishikesh are other two major pilgrim spots that tourist must reach from Badrinath. In Badrinath Sheesh Taal is also very famous where tourist can take bath and visit the temple.

Attaining to Badrinath:

By Air: closest airport to reach Badrinath is JGA (Jolly Grant Airport) situated close to Dehradun. Tourist has to travel for 317 km from Dehradun to reach Badrinath. Some areas are having helipad so visitors can use the helicopter service provided by local administration for reaching Badrinath. Direct helicopter to reach Badrinath is available at Dehradun.

By Rail: closest railway station is Rishikesh situated just at 297 km. however, Kotdwara is also the big station located at 327 km distance. Trains to Rishikesh are limited due to a small railway station and Kotdwara is linked to limited trains from diverse cities of India. The big junction close to Badrinath is Haridwar located at only distance of 24 km from Rishikesh. Direct and frequent trains are available to reach Haridwar from various parts of the country.

By Road: NH 58 allows visitors to reach the Badrinath without any worries. The road passes from Delhi towards Mana in Uttarakhand State.  State buses are available from New Delhi towards Badrinath through Haridwar and Rishikesh.

Buses are the only best way to reach the town Badrinath because of limited sources. The limited buses from Rishikesh could increase the problem for visitors. Once the tourist misses bus from Rishikesh they have to get to the other bus from Rudraprayag, Chamoli or Joshimath.

Distance of Badrinath from various parts of the country:

From Delhi traveler should reach Haridwar (206 km), then Rishikesh (24 km), then Devprayag (74 km), then Srinagar (34 km), then Rudraprayag (33 km), then Karnaprayag (31 km), then Nandprayag (21 km), then Chamoli (10 km), and then Joshimath (48 km). From Joshimath travelers have to cross 42 kms journey to reach Badrinath.