Badrinath Temple

Badrinath temple, sometimes called Badrinarayan temple, sits on the Alaknanda river, in the hill town of Badrinath in Uttarakhand state in India. Widely considered one of the holiest Hindu temples, the temple has been dedicated to Lord Vishnu. The temple and town number among the four Char Dham pilgrimage sites as well as one of the 108 Divya Desams, holy shrines for Vaishnavites. The temple opens only six months every year (between the end of April and the beginning of November), due to extreme weather conditions in the Himalayan region.
The main gate of the shrine painted with myriad colours. It has not only the image of Lord Vishnu but, several other gods and saints are housed inside the temple. From November to April end, the temple remains closed due to extreme weather conditions. Badrinath is accessible by road and therefore driving up to this pilgrim spot is not difficult. Badrinath Temple has a Tapt Kund, a hot water spring which is considered to have medicinal values. River Alaknanda is known to originate from here. The vibrant festivals of Mata Murti Ka Mela and the Badri Kedar Festival give you another reason to visit the temple. Both these festivals are celebrated with vim and vigour. The temple with its purity and serene beauty brings you to a different world, bereft of chaos and sin.
Devotees worship several murtis in the temple, the most important a one meter tall statue of Vishnu as Lord Badrinarayan made of black Saligram stone. Many Hindus consider the statue one of eight swayam vyakta keshtras, or self-manifested statues of Vishnu.[1] The murti depicts Vishnu sitting in meditative posture, rather than His far more typical reclining pose. In November each year, when the town of Badrinath closes, devotees move the image to nearby Jyotirmath. Located in the in the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve of the Himalayan mountains, the temple benefits from the grandeur of that majestic mountain range. Adi Shankara, the founder of Advaita Vedanta around 800 C.E., designated the site as a holy pilgrimage site.