Badrinath Temple

Badrinath or Badrinarayan Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu which is situated in the town of Badrinath in Uttarakhand, India. The temple and town form one of the four Char Dham and Chota Char Dham pilgrimage sites. The temple is also one of the 108 Divya Desams dedicated to Vishnu, who is worshipped as Badrinath—holy shrines for Vaishnavites. It is open for six months every year (between the end of April and the beginning of November), because of extreme weather conditions in the Himalayan region. The temple is located in Garhwal hill tracks in Chamoli district along the banks of Alaknanda River at an elevation of 3,133 m (10,279 ft) above the mean sea level. It is one of the most visited pilgrimage centres of India, having recorded 1,060,000 visits.

The image of the presiding deity worshipped in the temple is a 1 m (3.3 ft) tall, black stone statue of Vishnu in the form of Badrinarayan. The statue is considered by many Hindus to be one of eight swayam vyakta kshetras, or self-manifested statues of Vishnu.

Badrinath

Badrinath is a holy town and a nagar panchayat in Chamoli district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is the most important of the four sites in India's Char Dham pilgrimage and gets its name from the temple of Badrinath.

Name

Badri refers to a berry that was said to grow abundantly in the area, and nath means "Lord of". Badri is also the Sanskrit name for the Indian Jujube tree, which has an edible berry. Some scriptural references refer to Jujube trees being abundant in Badrinath.

History

Badrinath was reëstablished as a major pilgrimage site by Adi Shankara in the 9th century. In earlier days, pilgrims used to walk hundreds of miles to visit Badrinath temple.

The temple has been repeatedly destroyed by earthquakes and avalanches. As late as the First World War, the town consisted only of the 20-odd huts used by the temple's staff, but the site drew thousands each year and up to 50,000 on its duodecennial festivals. In recent years its popularity has increased still more, with an estimated 600,000 pilgrims visiting during the 2006 season, compared to 90,676 in 1961. The temple in Badrinath is also a sacred pilgrimage site for Vaishnavites. Badrinath is also gateway to several mountaineering expeditions headed to mountains like Nilkantha.

Badrinath (film)

Badrinath (బద్రీనాథ్) is a 2011 Telugu Action film directed by V. V. Vinayak and produced by Allu Aravind. The film stars his son Allu Arjun in leading role along with Tamannaah Bhatia and Prakash Raj. It was released on 10 June 2011 simultaneously in Telugu and Malayalam. The Tamil version will have additional scenes of actor Santhanam and expected to release in July. The movie was released in 1,400 screens worldwide. It ran for 50 days in 187 theatres. According to an article in The Times of India, "Despite mixed record tendered by critics, the acceptable storyline and script work, the thrills and stunts, the gyrations of choreography by Allu Arjun have lured the audience to the screens."and the film proved to be a big success. The movie has been dubbed in Hindi as "Sangharsh Aur Vijay."

Plot

Bheeshma Narayan (Prakash Raj) is a religious guru who prepares an army for the protection of all the ancient Hindu temples from terrorists. Of all the valiant and talented warriors in this elite army, Badrinath (Allu Arjun) is one who is groomed by Bheeshma Narayan and wishes to make Badri his successor. Once, a group of terrorists attacked Amarnath Temple and killed some devotees, Badri fought and killed those criminals, saving both the temple and the devotees.