Badrinath to reopen to devotees on April 30

Dehradun, January 29

The sacred portals of Badrinath, the famous Himalayan temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu, will be reopened to devotees in the wee hours of April 30.

The gates of the temple will be ceremoniously opened amid chanting of Vedic hymns at 4.30 am on April 30, Badri-Kedar temple committee president Mohan Prasad Thapliyal said.

The auspicious date and hour for the reopening of the temple after its six-month winter closure was announced by the priests of the erstwhile Tehri royal family Acharya Krishna Prasad Uniyal and Sampoornanand Joshi on the occasion of Basant Panchami on Wednesday, Thapliyal said.

The doors of Badrinath, like the other Himalayan temples of Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri in Uttarakhand, are closed every year at the onset of winter in October-November when they become snowbound.

The four temples, collectively known as the ‘chardham’, are visited by lakhs of devotees from all over the country and abroad every year during the yatra season. — PTI