Chardham Yatra - Part 11 (Pipalkoti to Badrinath)

Day 10 (28^th May 2019) – It was the day to proceed towards the last Dham in our yatra – Badrinath. Badrinath is considered one of the holiest places on this earth. One of the 108 holiest Vishnu shrines, or Divya Desams as they are called, it is situated at a height of 3133 meters above sea level and is open for only 6 months in a year like the other four Dhams. It is situated along the banks of the river Alaknanda which flows down to later merge with various rivers including the Bhagirati to form the river Ganga. The two holy mountains Nara & Narayana flank this temple with mountain Nara situated across the river Alaknanda.

We woke up early as usual and got ready by 6 a.m. By 6.30 a.m. we were on our way to Joshimath which was about 35 kms away. Our first halt was at Narasing temple at Joshimath. This is the popular old temple of Lord Narasimha which has been recently renovated. This temple serves as the winter retreat for Lord Badrinarayan. It is believed that the right arm of the Lord Narasimha is constantly eroding and when it fully erodes, the holy temple of Badrinath will be blocked and inaccessible. After that Badrinarayan will appear in the Bhavishya (Future) Badri temple of Badrinarayan which is 17 kms away from Joshimath and will be worshipped there in future.

We reached Narasing temple by about 8.30 a.m. and participated in the morning worship ritual. Even though Abhishek was completed by the time we reached, we could still get darshan of the Lord before He was covered by Alankaram and flowers. The priests were chanting Sri Sooktham in a unique tune and it was nice to hear it. After the puja and the aarti, we moved out and had darshan of the nearby temples including a nice Vasudeva temple which has a lovely idol made in black stone. After our darshan, we left towards Badrinath which is approximately 45 kms away from here.

After driving some distance, we came toto Vishnuprayag which is the confluence of Alaknanda and DhouliGanga. We had breakfast here as the place is developed well with small temples and nice resting place for pilgrims. Breakfast was Upma made of Dhaliya / Lapsee rice with chutney. We also took the opportunity to take some pictures here as the place was very scenic.

We then drove further towards Badrinath. The roads here were generally well maintained and we did not encounter much traffic. On the way, we saw the detour on the road which takes one towards the famous Hemkund Sahib - the holy place for Sikhs. We also saw the route that takes one towards the "Valley of Flowers" which is to be visited in the months of September / October. We reached by 12.30 p.m. and had our first darshan of the world-famous temple from the road itself. We loudly chanted “Bolo Badri Vishal ki Jai”. In fact, Srinivasan (our tour operator) has a ritual of shouting Jai slogans to all the deities before starting and ending every journey. We loudly & enthusiastically participated is such rituals. Our vehicle then drove towards a parking place from where we hired local coolies to carry our luggage to the hotel where we were to stay. It was a short 10-minute walk. The place being in the mountain, the walk has its ups & downs and one needs good lung power to walk.

We found the hotel to be decent and right across the river Alaknanda on the Nara mountain. From our room, we had a lovely darshan of the temple, the river and the long queue that was waiting for the darshan. The rooms were clean and decent. The weather was great as the Sun was shining that day and it reduced the cold and the wind was also not blowing strongly. It seemed as if the Lord was welcoming us cheerfully. After settling down, we had lunch which comprised of rice, rasam, one vegetable and curds.

After lunch and a little rest, we went to the village Mana which is about 4 kms away from Badrinath. This is the last village on the Indian side and has many important pilgrim spots. The roads were crowded with vehicles going to this village and there was a traffic jam. So, we got down from our TT and walked about a kilometer to reach this village. As we walked inside, we could see the small houses and people going about their daily routines. The pathway was narrow and there was no space for vehicles to move inside the village. Many of the villagers had put up small shops selling locally made woolen items like sweaters, scarfs, gloves, caps etc. We could also see some people actually making these items by hand. 

We first went to the Ganesh Mandir where Lord Ganesh had seated Himself and written the Mahabaratha which was composed and dictated to Him by Ved Vyasa. We then went to Vyas Gufa (Cave) which is in a slightly higher location. This is where Ved Vyasa used to meditate and where He composed the Mahabaratha as well as the Srimad Bhagavatam. We were overawed by visiting this holy place and bowed our heads to Him who is the incarnation of Lord Narayana. My wife recited the 12th chapter of the 12th Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam in the dark cave supported by the torch light provided by Sri Srinivasan. The 12th chapter is the summary of the Srimad Bhagavatam and chanting of it is considered equivalent to chanting the entire Srimad Bhagavatam.


After this we walked towards the place where we could see Saraswati river gushing down with tremendous farce. Legend is that the sound of the river Saraswati was so high that it disturbed Ved Vyas who instructed her to go underground and she obeyed Him. She is believed to surface at holy Prayagraj where the 3 rivers merge (Ganga, Yamuna & Saraswati) together. We also saw the path taken by the Pandavas while on their last journey and the huge boulder of rock placed by Bheem between two mountains to facilitate their crossing. This rock is called Bheem pul (Bridge) and is a marvel to see. After taking pictures at this spot, we saw the last resting place of Draupadi at a distance. Due to paucity of time, we did not go towards that place. On our way back, we did some small shopping of the local handicrafts (woolen wear) which is made of sheep's wool and gives very good warmth. It was available at a very low price here. 

In the evening, we waited for some time in the room as the darshan queue was very long. By 7.30 p.m. it had thinned, and we went for darshan. Before going to the temple, we had enquired about any Seva / Special darshan tickets but were told that none was available. We were resigned to a normal darshan from a distance, but fate was in our favour. Srinivasan used his local connects and got us all aarti darshan without any tickets and we got the opportunity to sit for a while in front of the Lord!!! We were thrilled beyond words at the special favours being continuously received by us. We felt very blessed and special indeed. Most of us, with the exception of four, returned to the hotel after this.

Four of us went for a short meeting with the main priest of Badrinath temple. This priest is called as Rawal and has been traditionally been coming from a Namboodri family in Kerala. The priest who is now in charge of conducting daily pooja at Badrinath is B Sankaran Namboodri and he is only 24 years old. He was kind enough to spend some time with us after his return from the temple to his quarters and gave special Badri prasadam for all five couples. He explained to us how the main diety of Badrinarayan is actually a Shaligram and is in the shape of a person sitting in a meditative posture.   

After that we returned to our room and had a nice light dinner comprising of dosas and chutney and went to bed with a plan to wake up early and go for the early morning 4 a.m. darshan wherein one can get the Nirmalaya (without any alankaram) darshan of the Lord. We were also told that the crowds will be less at that time. So, we set our alarm clock for 3 a.m. and went to sleep.

Thus ended 10 of our Yatra.