Lunar eclipse: Portals of Char Dham shrines closed

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 27

In the run-up to lunar eclipse slated to take place on Friday night, portals of the Char Dham shrines in Uttarakhand were closed at around 2 pm on Friday.

As per the Hindu calendar, the inauspicious period before the lunar eclipse starts at 2 pm so the Char Dham temples – Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri — were closed for visitors and would open on Saturday morning. Before the closure, rituals were performed at the temples.

MP Jamloki, an office-bearer of the Badri Kedar Temple Committee, said since the lunar eclipse would begin at 11.54 pm on Friday and continue up to 3.49 am on Saturday the portals of the Char Dham shrines were closed due to the start of the inauspicious period. The portals would open on Saturday morning after hawan and other purification activities were carried out.

Similarly, other temples in Haridwar and Rishikesh were also closed for lunar eclipse.