The Badrinath shrine will be reopened for the summer today. The seat of the Adi Shankaracharya along with the temple Rawal (chief priest), Uddhav, Kuber and the Gadu Gadha containing sesame seed oil reached Badrinath from the Yog Dhyan temple in Pandukeshwar on Thursday. After reaching Badrinath, the Rawal Ishwari Prasad Namdoobri conducted worship at the lord’s birthplace- Leela Dhungi. Meanwhile, the Badrinath shrine has been decked up in flowers for the occasion.
Earlier, the palanquins of the deities departed from Pandukeshwar after ritual worship. Only a limited number of priests and traditional right holders were present on the occasion with social distancing being maintained and masks being worn by the people in the process. Only the bare minimum number of people required for the important tasks related to reopening of the shrine and worship have been permitted to reach Badrinath.
Uttarakhand Char Dham Devsthanam Board media in-charge Harish Gaur informed that the Badrinath shrine will be reopened at 4:30 AM on Friday.
The ritual process for reopening the shrine will begin earlier at 3 AM. Kuber, Uddhav and the Gadu Ghada will be brought into the temple complex from the southern entrance. After that the Rawal in the presence of Dharmadhikari and traditional right holders will commence the ritual reopening of the shrine’s portals at 4:30 AM. After the reopening of the main shrine, the idol of goddess Lakshmi will be shifted from the sanctum sanctorum to the Lakshmi temple in the complex. Only a limited number of people will be present on the occasion to enable observance of social distancing and other governmental guidelines in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is pertinent to mention here that due to conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the date for reopening of Badrinath shrine for the summer was postponed from April 30 to May 15.
The other three Char Dham shrines- Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri were reopened earlier during April. With the reopening of Badrinath on Friday, all the Char Dham shrines will be open for the summer. It is hoped that the Char Dham Yatra will also be started after the pandemic abates.