From Joshimath we traveled to Badrinath the last destination of our trip to chota char-dham. Badrinath is at an average elevation of 3100 meters (10,170 feet) above the sea level in the Garhwal Himalayas on the banks of river Alaknanda.
Badrinath is famous for the temple of Badrinath dedicated to Lord Vishnu. 'Badri' refers to a berry that was said to grow abundantly in this area and 'Nath' means the Lord. The temple remains closed during winters and the utsav-murthy (festive idol) of Badrinath is kept at Joshimath for worship.
There are plenty of ashrams in Badrinath that provide accommodation for pilgrims. We stationed at Chinna Jeeyar Ashram at Badrinath. This giant statue of Jeeyar welcomes you on reaching the Ashram.
From our balcony we could see some of these beautiful mountains covered in snow.
The peak below is the famous Manikantha parvat in Badrinath. It is one of the tallest peaks in the Garhwal Himalayan region with an elevation of 3,474 meters (11,398 feet) above sea level.
It played hide and seek with me for a very long time as it is always covered by clouds.
After breakfast, some of our mates went to Brhama Kapal to perform shraadh karma to their ancestors. Hindus believe that paying homage here will reach their ancestors wherever and whatever form they are in. I, Tulsi and Virupaksha left for the darshan of Badrinath. This is the famous temple of Badrinath.
It was beautifully decorated with flowers as it was re-opened for the season with all rituals.
As the temple was closed for sometime, we decided to explore Badrinath rather standing in queue for hours. So we decided to visit Charan Paduka and Manikantha Parvat. Charan Paduka is about 4 kms and Manikantha is 9 kms trek from Badrinath.
Temple Badrinath is situated alongside the river Alaknanda.
After crossing the market around Badrinath we followed the trails drawn alongside the river by the local villagers.
This beautiful mountain caught our attention and instead of following the trails we decided to climb the cliff.
This beautiful waterfall caught my attention the moment I entered the Chinna Jeeyar Ashram. It is right behind the Ashram. I got this shot from the Ashram balcony. We could hear the roaring sound of the waterfall at our ashram.
I got this shot from the foot hill of the adjacent mountain that I mentioned above.
And this one from the top of the mountain. It took almost an hour to climb the cliff.
We sat on top of the hill and had some fun over there. Tulsi having great time.
A close up shot of the Ashram in Maroon red seen far in the picture above.
You can see my friend Virupaksha is chilling down on top of the cliff.
We had a great view from here. We could see the entire village of Badrinath.
Badrinath is surrounded by rock and snow clad mountains all over.
At far end, we noticed a helicopter came flying over these snow mountains and landed at the helipad in Badrinath.
I captured this tiny little bird resting on top of hill rock. Beautiful isn't it?
We then saw some of these beautiful flowers on top of the mountain.
We have seen some of these plants all over the mountain. I think the authorities have taken an initiative to plant these trees.
Spending a good time on the cliff we decided to progress further as Charan Paduka was still 3 kms away. As we progressed further we could see these beautiful glaciers.
When we started our journey, every time we see a snow peak far we used to get very excited and would ask the driver to stop the car to see it.
As we came to the end of the char-dham yatra we got closer and closer to these snow mountains.
Though we encountered glaciers on our way to Kedarnath, we could not enjoy much as we had to travel long distance.
Here we had ample time to spend and therefore we enjoyed these glaciers very well.
It's a memorable experience that is going to last for long.
You find these sights every where on your way to Charan Paduka.
At a far distance, I noticed these two tents just before the glaciers. They must be of some trekkers having shelter.
Walking on the trails among these beautiful mountains gives you a heavenly feeling.
You will be lost in the beauty of these beautiful sights.
It's an amazing feeling to watch the snow melting and falling down the cliff. You see plenty of these waterfalls around.
This is the image of a saint meditating. We came across some of these saints sitting and meditating in the caves. There are plenty of caves around here. We have seen many caves empty as the saints must have moved far due to increase in visitors around this place.
Nature is very strange. We noticed one side of the mountain is full of snow and on the other side is no snow at all.
These rock formations look awesome matching the beauty of snow covered mountains.
Weather got breezy and freezing as we approached near the Charan Paduka.
Clouds began to garner around the peaks and we sensed the possibility of rain any time.
We hadn't got any rain coat this time as the decision to come here happened spontaneously without planning.
The only sigh of relief was that there were plenty of rocks and caves where we could shelter.
We finally made to Charan Paduka. It is a natural carving on a stone in the form of a foot. Charan Paduka means the Foot Wear. It is believed that Lord Vishnu landed here on this stone first and then walked into Badrinath for stay.
Weather you believe its the feet of Lord Vishnu or not, the place is worth visiting. Even after trekking 4 kms Neelkantha appeared far.
Very few visited Charan Paduka and their destination ended up to this point. We were in dilemma whether to go ahead to Neelkantha or return back to Badrinath.
Trek to Neelkantha appeared scary as the sky was getting dark and no one was seen going towards that except a couple of yogis.
We wisely decided to come back as it rained heavily non-stop for 4 hours once we returned back to the Ashram and also I later learnt that it is really difficult to trek Neelkantha. Without the help of local villagers or professional trekkers it is not possible to trek. On our return to the Ashram we had our lunch and some rest. Evening, after the rains stopped we had the darshan of Badrinath. Next morning I was lucky to capture this beautiful view of Manikantha.
To my surprise the sky was absolutely clear and Manikanta was shining brilliantly.
I fell in love with this peak. The night before I got a dream that I am trying to climb the cliff and lost the path. It haunted me for few days even after returning home.
I was repeatedly getting a dream of climbing and failing to reach the peak. Somewhere, in my subconscious mind it must have got registered that we climbed many peaks during our visit to char-dham but Neelkantha was missed out.
I don't know why, googled about the trek to Neelkantha and learned the trek is really difficult one. One has to go through difficult terrains of snow once you cross the charan paduka. Trekking without the help of a local villager or a professional trekker is really difficult. Only after this it stopped coming in my dreams.
Next morning we started our drive to Mana Village which is 4 kilometers from Badrinath. On our way to Mana I shot the images of Nar and Narayan peaks.
Badrinath temple is right in front of these two peaks on the otherside. I shot this from behind.
As per the Hindu mythology the twin Avatar of Lord Vishnu, the Nar and Narayan is residing just behind Badrinath temple in the form of these mountains.
Look how beautiful they appear!
Sky remains clear early in the morning and the mountains glow during the early Sun shine.
By afternoon it rains and sometimes there will be snow fall even in the afternoon.
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