Pancha Badri

Pancha Badri

The Himalayan mountain range has always been revered and looked up with greatest devotion. This has been the practice since time immemorial. The life-line river of India (Ganges or sacredly known as Ganga Matha) has Her origin near Manasa Gangotri. The most two sacred shrines respectively dedicated to Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva are Badrinath and Kedarnath.

In a discussion forum, I came to know about that there are actually five Badri Shrines, known as Pancha Badri. I would like to cover in brief about Pancha Badri here for the benefit of other pilgrims.

Introduction

Badrinath is located about 10248 feet high above the sea level in the Himalayan range in Tehri-Garwal hill tracks (Uttarakhand). While you can have a visual feast of the beautiful greenery all along the tour, in general, due to rocky hill terrain, the route is an ardous ordeal.

In Badrinath, the Lord is flanked by Kuber and Garuda on either of His sides also accompanied by Nar, Narayan and Narad. There are also shrines dedicated to Adi Sankara, Lordess Mahalakshmi in the temple. The image of Badrinarayan is fashioned out of Saligramam.

The five Badri's are:

1. Adhi Badri
2. Buda Badri
3. Yoga Badri
4. Badri Vishal
5. Bhavishya Badri

Adhi Badri

This is the first and foremost place, where Sri Badrikasharama Emperuman gave His vision to the Pandavas when they were strangled amidst thunderstorm, even doubting whether they would be in a position to reach the Badrinath shrine. These temples have been traced to the Gupta dynasty. Currently these temples are covered and protected under the Archaelogical Survey of India.

Buda Badri

This is near Pipal Kote where Sri Badrikasharama Empuraman is supposed to have blessed Sri Narada Muni. Sri Adhi Shankara is also said to have worshipped Him at Vradha Badri near Pipal Kote.

Yoga Badri

This Badri is located at about 20 Kms from Joshi Mutt and 24 Kms down from Badrinath. This is the place where the King Pandu is supposed to have worshipped the Emperuman and got His blessings.

Badri Vishal

It is said that Vishal Maharaja had worshipped the Lord here and therefore this place is known as 'Badri vishal'. However, as per our tradition this is the place where the Lord gave us the sacred 'Thirumandhram' as both human and God form (Nara Narayanan).

Bhavisya Badri

This small place is about 40 kms from joshimutt and has to be reached by trekking/pony for 10kms. It is said that the Emperuman's Thirumeni here is Svayambu (self-created) and is slowly showing out inch by inch and is half visible now. By 2020 it is said that this is the future badri.

Travel Assistance

1. I have been knowing one Travel Pilgrim Service Provider in New Delhi by Name (Kala Rajan), who undertake pilgrimages often.
2. Through DivyaDesamOnline YahooGroups, I came across one another Travel Pilgrim Service Provider in New Delhi, whose contact addresses are below:
   
   M R K Narasimhan or M R Karunagaran,
   +91 09810786366 - Narasimhan
   +91 09868899986 - Narasimhan
   +91 120 2607752 - Narasimhan
   +91 120 2815325 - Karunagaran
   +91 120 2815394 - Narasimhan
   
3. Current Tour URL: 2006 September.
   

Neighboring Pilgrimage Centers:

1. Deva Prayag
2. Rudra Prayag
3. Karna Prayag
4. Nanda Prayag
5. Vishnu Prayag
6. Pandukeshwar
1. This is the place, where the Pandu sons were supposed to have born.
2. This place is also of significance where Bhima and Vayu Bhagavan have met each other.
3. Lord Vishnu has done penance in this place. On seeing this, Lordess Mahalakshmi took the form of Neem Tree (Badri) to provide him shelter and hence the place was started to be called as Badrinath.
7. Lakshmi Narasimha Mandir (with shrines for Desikacharya and Ramanujacharya)

The most significant in Badrinath is the hot water spring (Tapta Gund). While the normal temperature in the region is about 9 to 10 degree celsius, the hot water spring gives a temperature of 55 degree celsius. Pilgrims take a holy dip in the hot water spring before entering the shrine.

Badri Photographs

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Source Courtesy

1. DivyadesamOnline YahooGroups
2. Badrinath Kedarnath Website