Devaprayag
The pilgrimage to Badrinath starts from Haridwar or Rishikesh. From Rishikesh the first stop is at Devaprayag which is the confluence of the Alakananda with the Bhageerati which comes from Gangotri. The next stop is at Srinagar which is 35 km from Devaprayag. From there we go to Rudraprayag which is the confluence of the Alakananda and the Mandakini which comes from Kedarnath. The next important confluence is Karna Prayag where the Alakananda meets the Pindar River coming from the Pindar glacier. Another 32 km and we arrive at Chamoli and 18 km away we reach Pipalkoti which has some good restaurants where we can halt for lunch. Another 31 km away is the famous town of Joshimutt which is one of the four mutts established by Sri Adi Shankaracharya. There is a beautiful temple of Narasimha Murti who is the 4th incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Pilgrims going to Badrinath are supposed to worship here first. Legend goes that when the hand of the idol of Narasimha Murti breaks, the whole Narayana Parvat will collapse and totally cover the temple of Badrinath. After that all pujas and worship of the Lord will be conducted from the Narasimha temple. It is to be noted that the hand is slowly decreasing in size at the elbow! In olden times when the Rawal was taken in a ceremonial procession, he had to spend the night at this temple and apparently one of the people in the crowd would be overcome with the spirit of Narasimha (half man, half lion) and would dance with abandon and even kill a goat with his bare hands and drink the blood as Narasimha had done to the asura Hiranyakashipu.
From Joshimutt the road goes down to the Alakananda and then climbs to the most picturesque village of Pandukeswar. This place has a beautiful temple called Yogadhyan Badri and this is the temple in which the idol of Uddhava is brought and worshipped during the winter months. The father of the Pandavas, known as Pandu is said to have spent the last few years of his life here.
It is only 24 km from Pandukeshwar to Badrinath and the actual climb starts from here. It’s a very steep climb and by the time you reach Badrinath you find that a whole new climate awaits you. Moreover the altitude is something which may make many people sick. For those who are going for the first time it might be advisable to spend the night at Joshimutt and get acclimatized before proceeding to Badrinath. The first sight of the temple is really thrilling. It nestles like a jewel in the valley between the soaring Nara and Narayana mountains. In olden days only the famous Kali Kamli Wala guest houses existed but now Badri boasts of even a five star hotel!
Yogdhyan Badri Temple
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