Gopeshwar / Dehradun, 27 April (Hindustan Times). The doors of Badrinath Dham were opened for common devotees at 7.10 am on Thursday morning. On this special occasion, more than 10,000 devotees had darshan of Lord Badri Vishal and Akhand Jyoti and received the offerings of ghee blanket. With the opening of the doors of Badrinath, the Char Dham Yatra has duly started.
Devotees had started standing in queues from night itself to have darshan at Badrinath Dham. The process of opening the doors had started early in the morning. Lord Kuber entered the Badrinath temple first through the south gate. After that from the VIP gate, Badrinath chief priest Rawal Ishwari Prasad Namboodiri, Dharmadhikari Radha Ballabh Thapliyal and Vedpathis entered inside the temple with the Utsav idol of Uddhav ji.
Doors open after traditional worship
Before installing the idols of Uddhava and Kubera in the sanctum sanctorum, Rawal Ishwar Prasad Namboodiri dressed as a woman brought mother Lakshmi out of the sanctum sanctorum and enshrined her in the Lakshmi temple. Door worship was done under the direction of chief priest Rawal Ishwari Prasad Namboodiri. After the worship, the Gaadu pitcher was taken inside the temple. The first puja was performed in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The doors of Badri Vishal were opened amidst cheers at exactly 7.10 am.
While congratulating all the devotees on the auspicious occasion of the opening of the doors, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that the state government has made all arrangements for the smooth conduct of the Chardham Yatra.
Saint Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati of Jyotish Peeth, Inspector General of Police Garhwal Karan Singh, District Magistrate Himanshu Khurana, SP Pramendra Singh Dobal, Temple Committee President Ajendra Ajay, Vice President Kishore Panwar, Committee members Virendra Aswal, Ashutosh Dimri and many others were present at the inauguration.
Music from army band, flower shower from helicopter
Amid light snowfall and rain, the melodious tunes of the army band’s band and traditional music and dance of local women in praise of Lord Badrinath enthralled the devotees. On the occasion of the opening of the doors of the Badrinath temple, flowers were showered by helicopter to welcome the pilgrims.
Badrinath temple was decorated with 15 quintals of flowers on the occasion of Kapatodghatan. Thousands of devotees from all over the country and abroad witnessed the opening of the doors to the devotional tunes of the army band and chants of Jai Badrivishal. With the opening of the doors of Shri Badrinath Temple, the journey of Chardham has duly started.
It is noteworthy that the doors of Shri Gangotri and Shri Yamunotri Dham and Shri Kedarnath Dham were opened for the devotees to visit. Devotees and devotees were waiting for their turn in the queue since late night to have darshan of Lord Badri Vishal on the occasion of Kapatodghatan in Badrinath Dham. As soon as the doors are opened, the devotees are having darshan of Lord Badri Vishal one by one.
Crowd started gathering in other pilgrimage sites as well
With the opening of the doors of the Badrinath Temple, Taptakund, Narad Kund, Shesh Netra Lake, Neelkanth Shikhar, Urvashi Temple, Brahma Kapal, Mata Murti Temple and the country’s first village Mana, Bhimpul, Vasudhara Falls and other historic places around Bhu-Baikunth Dham. And the crowd of devotees and tourists has also started gathering at philosophical places.
When how many pilgrims reached Badrinath
Lakhs of devotees have visited Badrinath in the past years. Looking at the previous figures, 654355 pilgrims reached Badrinath in the year 2016, 920466 in the year 2017 and 1048051 in the year 2018, 1244993 in the year 2019 and 155055 in the year 2020. In the year 2021 only 197997 devotees reached Badrinath due to Corona crisis. Whereas in the last year 2022, 1763549 devotees reached Badrinath Dham after controlling the Corona epidemic. This time a large number of devotees are reaching Badrinath with record registration in the beginning itself.
