Vaishnava · Chamoli, Uttarakhand
Sri Badrinath Temple
Badri Vishal (Badrinarayan) in meditation, with the Brahma Kapal ghat
Pitru and ancestorsGeneral
The temple in short
- Deity
- Badri Vishal (Badrinarayan) in meditation, with the Brahma Kapal ghat
- Where
- Chamoli, Uttarakhand · 30.74N 79.49E
- Usual hours
- Season only: 4.30 am – 1 pm, 4 pm – 9 pm — hours change with festivals and the season; check before travelling. Were these right when you went?
- Grahas
- Guru Sani
- Visited for
- One of the Char Dham and the last of the 108 Divya Desams, open from Akshaya Tritiya to Vijayadashami. Shraddha at Brahma Kapal is said to end the obligation to the ancestors for ever.
The sthala purana
Tradition, as it is told at the temple
The sthala purana has it that Vishnu sat in penance here in the open and that Lakshmi stood over him as a badri — a jujube tree — to keep the snow off, and that he took his name from her.
A second story has it that the place belonged to Sivan, and that Vishnu came as a crying child and was taken in, and would not afterwards be moved; Sivan went to Kedarnath instead. The two shrines are spoken of as a pair for that reason.
Adi Sankara is said to have found the image in the Alaknanda, where it had been hidden in a time of trouble, and to have installed it again.
What is recorded
Documented history
Badrinath is one of the four Char Dham of the all-India circuit, one of the four Chota Char Dham of the Garhwal Himalaya, and the last of the 108 Divya Desams — the only one of the Azhwars’ temples in the Himalaya.
It is open only from about Akshaya Tritiya to a few days after Vijayadashami; for the rest of the year the deity is worshipped at Joshimath.
The head priest, the Rawal, is by long-standing arrangement a Nambudiri brahmin from Kerala. The practice is usually traced to Adi Sankara and has been kept continuously.
What there is to see
Description
The facade is painted in bright bands of colour, which is unlike anything else in the valley and unlike what most people expect of a Himalayan temple.
The Tapt Kund, a hot spring on the bank below the temple, is bathed in before darshan even in the cold.
Brahma Kapal, a rock ledge on the Alaknanda a short walk upstream, is where shraddha is performed; tradition holds that the obligation to the ancestors is discharged there for good. Mana, the last village before the Tibet border, is 3 km further on.
The temple year
The days it is fullest
The temple opens at about Akshaya Tritiya and closes around Vijayadashami or Bhai Dooj; the exact dates are announced each year and travel has to be planned around them.
The Mata Murti ka Mela and the Badri Kedar festival are the season’s own events. Shraddha at Brahma Kapal is performed all through the open months, and the Mahalaya fortnight is heaviest.
Getting there, and what else it is called
- Also called
- Badri Vishal, Badrinarayan, Badrikashram
- Reaching it
- Badrinath is in Chamoli district, about 300 km from Rishikesh by mountain road, usually taken over two days. Rishikesh and Haridwar are the nearest railway stations, and helicopters fly from Dehradun in season.
Where it is
Others within reach
Nearest first, by straight-line distance
Add what you know
Been to this temple? The things that change — whether the hours on this page were right, whether the sannidhi was open, how long the queue was on a Saturday — are exactly what no printed source keeps current, and what the next person travelling here needs.
- Were the hours right when you went?
- Is anything on this page wrong or out of date?
- A photograph of the gopuram, the tank, or the notice board
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Parihaaram is traditional practice, offered for devotion and peace of mind; it is not a guaranteed cure of any condition. Temple hours change with festivals and the season, so check before travelling.