Badrinath Temple

Badrinath Temple is one of the four Char Dham pilgrimage sites and one of the 108 Divya Desams of the Vaishnava tradition. Located at 3,133 metres in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, the temple sits on the banks of the Alaknanda River between the Nar and Narayan mountain peaks. The presiding deity is a one-metre-tall black shaligrama stone image of Vishnu in a meditative posture, believed to be a swayambhu (self-manifested) idol recovered from the Narada Kund hot spring by Adi Shankaracharya in the 9th century. The brightly painted facade in yellow, white, and red is one of the most iconic images of the Himalayas. The temple opens in late April or May and closes in November, after which the deity's flame is ceremonially carried to Joshimath for the winter months.