Char Dham Temples

Char Dham means four pilgrim centers considered to be very important in India. It was believed that going to these four places will give Moksha. So it was a dream of every Hindu to visit Char Dham. Badrinath, Rameswaram, Dwaraka & Puri are considered as char dham. Among these four places three are Vishnavite(Lord Vishnu)  one is Shaivite(Lord Shiva). Geographically these temple shows its Importance as these places makes a perfect shape of square as Badrinath and Rameswaram falls on same Longitude, Puri & Dwaraka falls on same latitude.

BADRINATH:

This was first among the char dhams.Badrinath was temple of Lord Vishnu’s incarnation Nar-Narayan. Once this Badrinath was covered with Plum trees. These trees are called Badri in Sanskrit, so this place was called as Badrika Van (Palm Forest). The Particular place where Lord Vishnu Incarnation Nar-Narayan sat and did Tapasya was called as Badrinath which means King of Plum trees.

This place was situated in the northen side of India in Uttarakhand. This was situated on the Garhwal hills near the banks of river Alakananda.

RAMESWARAM:

   

Rameswaram was on the southern tip of India on an Island in Palk Strait which divides India & Sri Lanka. This place acquired importance because Lord Rama installed a Lingam here and offered prayers. As per Ramayan Lord Rama on his returned to Ayodhya offered pooja to Lord Shiva. So this place was called as Rameswaram. This was also a Part if 12 jyotirlangas.

DWARAKA:

This Place was the western most part of India. It was in state of Gujarat near the place where Gomati River meets Arabian Sea. In Dwapar yug when Lord Sri Krishna migrated to from Mathura to Dwaraka and made this place his permanent abode. This Place has a mystical history that from the time of lord Krishna this land got washed away by sea currents 6 times. Now the city was built 7^th time.

PURI:

Puri was situated in east part of India. This was an ancient place situated in Odisha on the shores of Bay of Bengal. This temple was 1000 years old and was constructed by Raja Choda Ganga Deva. This was the only temple in the country where along with Sri Krishna his sister Subhadra & brother Balaram were worshiped. Here Lord Sri Krishna was called as JAGANNATH. Here the people celebrate RATHA YATRA as their main festival. 

Besides these four temples Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath & Badrinath are called as Chota Char Dham. But now a days these temples are also called as Char Dhams.