Portals of Badrinath temple open for devotees
Dehradun: The portals of Badrinath temple were opened amid rituals at 6am on Sunday. Dedicated to
Lord Vishnu
, the shrine was the last of the Char Dham temples to reopen after a six-month winter break.
Around 15,000 devotees from across India and abroad gathered for the occasion. An Indian Army band played
devotional music
, and flower petals were showered from a helicopter on devotees for about 10 minutes. The temple was adorned with 15 tonnes of flowers, officials said.
Sounds of drumbeats and chants of "Jai Badri Vishal" filled the air, as women from Mana and Bemni villages performed the traditional Jhumailo dance, and pilgrims gathered at the temple premises sang bhajans.
Chief minister
Pushkar Singh Dhami
performed the season's first mahabhishek puja on behalf of Prime Minister Modi. Dhami said that the state govt has made all necessary arrangements for a safe and smooth
Char Dham yatra
, and urged devotees to support the administration's efforts to ensure a "green and clean" pilgrimage.
Other prominent attendees at the opening included Rajya Sabha MP and BJP state president Mahendra Bhatt, Jyotishpeeth Shankaracharya Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, MLAs Kishore Upadhyay and Lakhpat Butola, Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC) vice presidents Vijay Kaparwan and Rishi Prasad Sati, CEO Vijay Thapliyal, and dharmadhikari Radha Krishna Thapliyal.
Along with the main temple, the doors of Ganesh, Ghantakarna, Adi Kedareshwar, Adi Guru Shankaracharya, and Mata Murti temples in the Badrinath dham complex were also opened for devotees.
With the reopening of Badrinath, the Char Dham yatra is now underway in full swing. The portals of Kedarnath were opened on Friday, while Gangotri and Yamunotri temples reopened on April 30. Every year, the doors of the four shrines are closed after Diwali and reopen in April-May.
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