Friday, February 13, 2009

Opening of the Badrinath shrine

The temple opens every year in the month of April-May & closes for winters in the third week of November. Joshimath is the winter deity of Badrinath.

Badrinath's four subsidiary Badris include Bhavishya Badri, Yogdhyan Badri, Bridha Badri and Adi Badri. It is popularly believed that with spread of Buddhism, the Buddhists enshrined the statue of Lord Buddha there and during the Hindu renaissance, the statue of Buddha was later restored by Adi Guru as the idol of Vishnu. This possibly explains the deity sitting in Padmasan posture, typical of Buddha icons. However, also according to Hindu mythology, Buddha was considered to be the ninth incarnation of Lord Vishnu.