Chardham Yatra of Uttarakhand

New Delhi: The Chardham Yatra of Uttarakhand is slated to start soon. This year, the Chardham Yatra will start on the occasion of the holy Akshaya Tritya on April 30. Last year, about 11 lakh devotees had visited Badrinath. Similarly, 13.5 lakh devotees had visited Kedarnath.

This time however, the doors of the chardhams of Uttarakhand, Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath Dham are going to open earlier than last year.

Yesterday, on the Magha Shukla Panchami i.e. Basant Panchami day, the date for opening the doors of Badrinath Dham was fixed as per the traditional custom at the Narendra Nagar Rajdarbar in Tehri. The date was fixed by the Raj Purohit Acharya Krishna Prasad Uniyal on the basis of the birth horoscope and planetary constellations of Maharaja Manu Jayendra Shah. It was decided that the doors of Badrinath Dham will be opened at 6 am on May 4.

Before the doors are opened, a Kalash Yatra will be held for Badrinath Dham on April 22. This unique tradition, which has been going on for many years at Badrinath Dham, is considered important by devotees. It is worth noting that last year, the doors of Badrinath Dham were closed at 9:07 pm on November 17.

The date for opening the doors of Kedarnath Dham has not been decided yet. The date will be decided after the Panchang calculation at the Omkareshwar Temple in Ukhimath on February 26 on Mahashivratri.

Kedarnath and Badrinath are among the most important shrines of Hindus. Apart from this, Kedarnath is among the 12 Jyotirlingas, one of the Char Dham and Panch Kedar. Badrinath, situated between the two mountains named Nar and Narayan on the left bank of the Alaknanda river, is also famous for its picturesque locales.