Badrinath Temple

Badrinath on the Alaknanda river in the Garhwal Himalayas is the northernmost of the four Char Dham shrines . Its black stone image of Vishnu as Badrinarayan sits beneath a badri tree. Lakshmi is said to have sheltered the meditating Vishnu as a badri, or jujube, tree, giving the shrine its name.

Tradition credits Adi Shankara with founding the pilgrimage in the ninth century, recovering its image from the Tapt Kund springs . Garhwal kings installed the image in the temple in the sixteenth century; after the earthquake of 1803 the King of Jaipur rebuilt much of it.

Snow closes the shrine for half the year, when the deity is notionally moved to the Narasimha temple at Jyotirmath and a ghee lamp left burning. In summer the annual fair drew pilgrims north from Haridwar.