The portals of Lord Shri Badrinath Temple were opened for the devotees on Thursday at 7:10 am on the auspicious time of Brahma Bela with full Vedic chanting and rituals. On this occasion, the first puja was performed in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Thousands of devotees were present in the Dham to witness the inauguration.
The process of opening the doors started from 4 am on Thursday. Kuber ji, Uddav ji and Gadu Ghada were brought into the premises of the temple from the south gate. After this, the doors of the temple were opened in the presence of administration and thousands of devotees by Dharmadhikari, Hakhakudhari and officials of Shri Badrinath Kedarnath Temple Committee including the chief priest of the temple Rawal.
Chief priest VC Ishwar Prasad Namboodiri wished everyone auspiciousness while offering special prayers to Lord Badrinath in the sanctum sanctorum. The first puja was done in the name of PM Modi. With this, the darshan of Badrinath has started for summers. Badrinath temple was decorated with 20 quintals of flowers on the occasion of Kapatodghatan.
In the midst of light snowfall and rain, the melodious music of the band and the praise of Lord Badrinath accompanied by the traditional music and dance of the local women mesmerized the devotees. According to the guidelines of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, on the occasion of the opening of the doors of the Badrinath temple, the devotees were overwhelmed by the rain of flowers from the helicopter to welcome the pilgrims.
A day before the opening of the doors, a crowd of devotees had started gathering in Badrinath Dham. On the very first day, thousands of devotees earned merit by having darshan of Akhand Jyoti and Lord Shri Badrinath at Badrinath. With the opening of the doors of Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath Dham, the Chardham Yatra has started in Uttarakhand.
Crowds of devotees started gathering in other pilgrimage and tourist places in Baikunth Dham
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 and how many pilgrims reached Badrinath:
Lakhs of devotees have visited Badrinath in the past years. If you look at the previous figures, in the year 2016 6 lakh 54 thousand 355, in the year 2017 9 lakh 20 thousand 466 and in the year 2018 10 lakh 48 thousand 51, in the year 2019 12 lakh 44 thousand 993 and in the year 2020 15 lakh 5 thousand 55 Devotees reached Badrinath.
In the year 2021, due to the Corona crisis, only 1 lakh 97 thousand 997 devotees reached Badrinath. Whereas in the last year 2022, 17 lakh 63 thousand 549 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.
