Badrinath

Badrinath lies high in the Garhwal Himalayas beside the Alaknanda River. Its temple is dedicated to Vishnu as Badrinarayan and is one of the great destinations of Hindu pilgrimage. Tradition tells that Adi Shankara recovered the image of the god from the hot spring of Tapt Kund and restored its worship. Pilgrims travelled long distances on foot to reach the sanctuary among the mountains.

The kings of Garhwal endowed villages to support the temple and to feed and shelter travellers along the route. In the sixteenth century a ruler of Garhwal moved the image to its present temple, which his successors enlarged in the seventeenth century. Earthquakes and avalanches repeatedly damaged the building. After the great earthquake of 1803, the king of Jaipur undertook a major rebuilding of the shrine.