Portals of Badrinath temple thrown open for devotees
Neena Sharma
Tribune News Service
Dehradun, April 30
The sacred portals of Badrinath temple in Chamoli were thrown open on Monday amid chanting of Vedic hymns. The cry of ‘Jai Badri Vishal’ rented the air as the portals of the temple opened around 4.30 am.
In the background an Army band led by Chief Priest Ishwar Prasad Nambudiri performed ‘Maha Abhishek’ with specially-prepared sesame oil. All religious rituals were performed before the temple portals were opened. Around 15 quintals of marigold flowers were used to decorate the precincts of the temple.
With the opening of Badrinath, the annual pilgrimage to Char Dham is in full swing. The three other Himalayan shrines — Kedranath, Gangotri and Yamunotri — that are part of the Char Dham yatra are already open.
All the Himalayan shrines are closed every year with the onset of winter as they become snowbound and reopened with the start of summer.
Ganesh Godiyal, president of Badrinath Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC), said pilgrims had started gathering outside the temple since Sunday. “There was a huge rush of pilgrims who had been patiently waiting for the portals to open in the morning,” he said. Around 7.50 lakh pilgrims had visited Badrinath last year.
