| Char Dham Yatra – towards Badrinath, Day 50 |


After Darshan of Gopinath temple, we will now move towards Adi Badri – the ancient Badri Dham. We are very close to the last lap of this pilgrimage. From Darshan of Mothers Ganga and Yamuna to Lord Shiva, we shall now have the Darshan of Lord Narayana. Like we did, of Panch Prayag & Panch Kedar, we shall now get to know the history of Panch Badri too. Before anything else, let us first learn the history of Adi Badri – the ancient Badri Dham and have Darshan of Lord Narayana.

Adi Badri

The Adi Badri temple whose ancient name is said to be Narayan Math, is dedicated to Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu it is said, resided here in this temple, in the first three Yugas or Eras. However, upon commencement of Kali Yuga, Lord Vishnu began residing in Badrinath. This temple was founded and established between 8th & 12th century. The Adi Badri temple originally comprised of a group of 16 temples, but only 14 of them remain now in the current times. The main temple amongst this group of 14 is dedicated to Lord Vishnu. Apart from this, there are temples of Shri Lakshminarayan, Annapurna, Surya (Sun God), Satyanarayan, Ganesh, Parabrahma, Shiva, Garuda, Durga, Janki and others.

Adi Badri is situated in the district Chamoli. The architecture of this temple is similar or comparable to the temple architecture of Gupta era. People from the Thapali village have been officiating as the priests in this temple, from their past 7 – 8 generations. Thapali village is situated just across from this temple. The temple doors close in the month of December and re-open on the auspicious day of Makar Sankranti. The temple is open to visitors from 6 am to 7 pm everyday.

The idol of Lord Vishnu in this temple of Adi Badri temple has been cast using an amalgam of eight different metals. It is said that the Pandavas had established this temple during their Swargarohini trek – the path that leads to heaven. Maharishi Ved Vyas had composed the Mahabharata at this place.

(To be continued …)