Badrinath Closing: Badrinath’s doors closed for winter, 51 lakh devotees made new records

The doors of Badrinath temple were closed for winter at 2:56 pm on Tuesday. Amidst the presence of a large number of devotees, Rawal Amarnath Namboodiri performed all the traditional rituals and the doors of the temple were formally closed. During this time, echoes of Jai Badri Vishal were heard throughout the Dham.

Before closing the doors of Badrinath, Goddess Lakshmi was installed in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple by Rawal. For this Rawal disguised himself as a woman. Taking the form of Lakshmi’s friend, Rawal installed Goddess Lakshmi in the sanctum sanctorum along with Lord Narayana and covered her with Ghritkambal (a special blanket smeared with ghee).

Special worship was performed at Mata Lakshmi temple on Monday. ‘Kadhai Bhog’ festival is an important stage of the process of closing the doors, in which a special offering is offered to Goddess Lakshmi to invite her to sit in the sanctum sanctorum with Lord Narayana.

This occasion is also celebrated as the fourth day of Panch Puja, which is dedicated to Goddess Lakshmi. After this stage, the final preparations for closing the doors of the temple are started.

Before the doors were closed, the temple was lavishly decorated with 12 quintals of flowers. As per tradition, the idols of Uddhava and Kubera were brought out of the sanctum sanctorum, while Goddess Lakshmi was installed in the sanctum sanctorum.

Panch pujas had started in Badrinath Dham from 21st November. With the closure of the doors of Ganesh Temple, Adi Kedareshwar and Adi Guru Shankaracharya Gaddi Sthal, the recitation of Vedas also ended there.

As soon as the doors are closed, the Chardham Yatra has been postponed for six months from today. This time the devotees who came for the yatra have created a new record. The number of devotees visiting the four Dhams reached 51 lakh. Last year this figure was 48 lakhs.