India is a diverse country of many cultures and religions. Many pilgrimages, churches, mosques, gurudwara and all places of religious significance make our country more secular. One amongst them is the Char Dham which is a popular Hindu pilgrimage. The name “Char Dham” means four abodes or four seats and it rightly consists of four temples. The four temples namely are Gangotri, Yamunotri, Badrinath, and Kedarnath.
Religious people from all over the country as well as abroad visit this place to attain inner peace and “bhakti”. However, the temples of Char Dham are not open throughout the year. The official dates for Char Dham are announced after undergoing and taking a lot of things into consideration. The Hindu calendar known as “Panchang” is considered by cedar Badri mandir Samiti and char Dham temple which leads to the finalizing of the dates. The dates are usually revealed before Akshaya Tritiya also known as Akshaya Teej.
The four important temples on the way to char Dham i.e Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath each open and close on different dates. however, the opening dates do not very much and only have a gap period of two days. The dates are mentioned as follows:-
- On the day of Akshaya Tritiya the gates for Yamunotri temple open, this is followed every year. Accordingly, the dates for this year should be 7 May 2019.
- Following next in line the Gangotri temple as the name resembles is dedicated to goddess Ganga which opens two days later which will be 9 May 2019.
- Next in line is the Kedarnath temple dedicated to Lord Shiva which opens after a few days. It should be around 11 May 2019 this year.
- And the last, Badrinath temple is also accessible two days later that is from 23 May 2019.
CLOSING DATES FOR CHAR DHAM
As the winter descends the temple gates bid adieu to their visitors. Avery particular reason is that the road gets blocked due to snowfall and can be troublesome for both the visitors and local people. the closing dates are:-
- The first to get close is the gates of Gangotri temple. This may happen on 27 October 2019 this year.
- The temples of Yamunotri and Kedarnath close door together on the day of Bhai door. This is after two days from Deepawali and is expected to happen on 29 October 2019.
- The final and last temple Badrinath remains closed for the remaining year from Vijaya Dashami which is expected on 9 November 2019 this year.
Although the gates get closed during winter it is still made accessible to the devotees. The deities during winters are moved down to the Yamuna mandir in Pharsalia village. The Ganga mandir in Mukhba village, the Onkareshwar temple in ultimate, and the narsingh temple in Joshimath. They are open no matter even if the roads are not accessible.
However, it is always safe and more cheerful to plan the Char Dham yatra journey months before going. It is a spiritual, holy place which can be visited at any time. No matter the weather and season the charm of the temples remains the same. The above-mentioned dates can help in proper planning and get everything sorted.
