Devotees today thronged the famous Himalayan shrine of Badrinath in Uttarakhand, as its sacred portals were thrown open to the public in the wee hours today after six months of closure due to snow-bound conditions.
Amid chanting of vedic hymns and blowing of conchshells, the gates of the shrine located at a height of 10,000 ft were reopened at 4 a.m. by Rawal, the head priest, in the presence of religious heads and administrative officials, Chairman of the Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee, Ganesh Godiyal, said.
The ritual opening of the portals took place after the idol of Lord Vishnu was reinstalled in its sanctum sanctorum, he said.
With the reopening of the gates of Badrinath, all the Char Dhaam sites in Uttarakhand are now open for the public. The portals of Gangotri, Yamunotri and Kedarnath have already been opened.
Badrinath Dham along with other Char Dham shrines in the Himalayas is closed every year for six months due to snow-bound conditions during winter and reopened for visitors in April-May.
The schedule for reopening the temple’s portals had been formally announced by the Rajpurohit of the erstwhile Tehri royal family at their palace in Narendra Nagar in February.
During the long winter recess, Lord Vishnu’s idol is worshipped at Narsingh Temple located at nearby Joshimath.