Char Dham

India is a very religious country. In Hindu religion there are considered 330 million god and goddesses, although we believe there is one God and all the god and goddesses lie in Him only. If there is one temple for each god and one birth place or a place sanctioned to one god the number of pilgrims comes out to be 330 million. Although it is not like that even though there are numerous pilgrims in India. The number of pilgrims is so high that it is very difficult to list all of them. It will be even bigger than an encyclopedia.

Here we are going to discuss about the main pilgrims which are mentioned in our holy books and are of utmost importance.

In the top of the list are Char Dhams.

Badrinath dham

Dwarika Puri Dham

Jaggannath Puri Dham
Rameshwaram

Adi guru Shankaracharya revived Hindu religion and grouped four sacred places as Char dham related to Lord Visnu avatar (Incarnation). These Char hams make a perfect square as two of them Badrinath and Rameshwaram falls in the same longitude and Puri and Dwarika falls In the same latitude representing farthest north, east, west and south points.

Figure 1 Badrinath Dham fig 2 Dwarkadheash Temple

Puri Temple

Rameshwaram Temple

Badrinath Dham is in the uttarakhan state garhwal hills on the bank of Alaknanda River. It is between nar and narayan hills.

Badri means Berri and nath means lord. Here berry is found very abundantly naturally. It is said adi shankracharya found a black stone image of Lord Badri Narayan made of Shaligram stone in Alaknanda river and established in a cave which was later on shifted to present temple by King of Garhwal in the sixteenth century.

Dwarika is in the west in the Gujarat state.dwarika derived its name from the Sanskrit word dvar which means Gate. Here Gomti river enters the gulf of Kuch nearby.

It is the wetern most state of India. Dwarika is said to be the dwelling place of Lord krishana. It is said that Dwarika was damaged six times by the sea water and the today’s Dwarika is the seventh.

Puri in the east is in the state of Orissa and is one of the oldest city of India. it is situated on the bay of Bengal.

It is dedicated to Lord Krishana and called Jaggannath. It is the only place in India Where Lord Krishana Is worshiped with her sister Subhadra and elder brother Balbhadra or Lord Balrama. The temple is believed to be 1000 years old and was constructed by Raja Choda Ganga Deva and Raja Tritiya Ananga Bhima Deva

Rameshwaram in the south is in the Indian state of Tamilnadu and is the southern most point of India and is situated on the Gulf of Mannar. It is the place where Lord Rama made bridge Ram Setu to Lanka in the war with Ravana. The Ramanatha Swamy Temple occupies the most area of Rameshwaram and is dedicated to Lord Shiva and is believed to be consecrated by Lord Rama. It is believed that pilgrimage to Banaras is incomplete without the Pilrimage of Rameshwaram.

One thing is common in all the four Dhams that all the four are related to Lord Vishnu. In Rameshwaram although the Place is dedicated to Lord Shiva and temple of Lord Shiva is there. But that place is more famous for Lord Rama And the Shiva Linga Statue of Lord Shiva was consecrated by Lord Rama Himself.

Three of the Dhams are on sea shore and the forth that is Badrinath Dham which is in the North and couldnot have been on the sea shore is on the bank of river Alaknanda a very sacred River in Hindu Religion. A great importance was given to water or god of water which is one of the most important means for life.