Badrinath or Badrinarayan Temple is a temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu and is situated in the town of Badrinath in Uttarakhand The temple form one of the four Char Dhams. It is open for six months every year (between the end of April and the beginning of November), because of extreme weather conditions in this region. The temple is located in Garhwal hills along the banks of Alaknanda River at a height of 10,279 ft above the mean sea level.
The image of the presiding deity in the temple is a 1 m tall, black stone statue of Vishnu in the form of Badrinarayan. The statue is considered by many Hindus to be one of eight swayam vyakta kshetras, or self-manifested statues of Vishnu.
The moorti of Badrinarayan, is housed in a gold canopy under a Badri Tree. The sanctum also houses images of the god of wealth—Kubera, sage Narada, Uddhava, Nar and Narayan. Other moortis in this temple include that of Lakshmi , Garuda and Navadurga, the manifestation of Durga in nine different forms. The conical-shaped roof of the sanctum, the garbhagriha, is covered with a gold gilt roof.
The Tapt Kund, a group of hot sulphur springs just below the temple, are considered to be medicinal; many pilgrims consider it a requirement to bathe in the springs before visiting the temple. The two water ponds in the temple are called Narad Kund and Surya Kund.
History
History
According to some accounts, the temple was a Buddhist shrine till the 8th century and Adi Shankara converted it to a Hindu temple.[
It is believed that Shankaracharya resided in the place for six years from ad 814 to 820. He resided six months in Badrinath and the rest of the year in Kedarnath. He discovered the image of Badrinath in the Alaknanda River and enshrined it in a cave near the Tapt Kund hot springs.
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