Badrinath, 17 November (IANS). The doors of the holy Badrinath temple will be closed for winter at 9:07 pm on Sunday night. For this, the process of closing the doors has started with the recitation of the Vidhi Vidhan Mantra.
More than 10,000 devotees visited Lord Badri Vishal on Saturday. Many major rituals were performed during this period and hundreds of kilos of Prasad was prepared to conclude the session.
On Friday, November 15, the third day of the process of closing the doors of the temple, Vedic chanting (Veda Richas) was stopped. This move signaled the temple’s entry into the winter phase. After this the Vedas and Upanishads were formally handed over to the Rawal (head priest) and Dharmadhikari of the temple.
The week-long process of closing the temple began on November 13, when the doors of the Shri Ganesh temple were closed. After this the doors of Adi Kedareshwar and Adi Guru Shankaracharya temples were closed.
These processes are part of Panch Puja, in which the entire temple complex is prepared for the long winter. The important ‘Khatag Puja’ was completed under Panch Puja on Friday. After this, embroidery offerings were made in the temple of Goddess Lakshmi and prayers were offered for the safe return of Lord Badrinath to the sanctum sanctorum.
The Chardhams of Uttarakhand – Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath – are all closing for winter. This concludes the pilgrimage for 2024. Gangotri, dedicated to Mother Ganga, first closed on 2 November. After this, the doors of Yamunotri and Kedarnath were closed on 3 November on the day of Bhai Dooj.
The doors of other major temples have also been closed for winter. Rudranath was closed on 17 October and Tunganath on 4 November and Madhyamaheshwar will be closed on 20 November. The doors of Bhakunta Bhairavnath, the protector deity of Kedarnath, were closed on 29 October.
This closure process occurs around Dussehra and is necessary to keep the temples and their surrounding areas safe during the winter season. These temples will open in April or May next year and will be ready for pilgrimage by 2025.
–IANS
AS
