The Four Famous Pilgrimage Sites for Hindus

The Four Famous Pilgrimage Sites for Hindus

These famous four pilgrimages sites also popularly known as char-Dham was first defined by Adi-Sankaracharya .These four temples are revered sites for  Vaishnavite people.Vaishnavite people are those who believe that Vishnu is the supreme god and Lord Vishnu is the presiding deity of these famous four pilgrimages sites . It comprises Badrinath, Dwarka,Jagannath Puri and Rameswaram. It is considered highly sacred by Hindus to visit Char Dham during one’s lifetime. These pilgrimages sites are located in four different directions and regions of India namely East West North South.

1. Jagannatha Temple, Puri  (Odisha, East)

Puri located at the East, is located in the state of Odisha, India. Puri is one of the oldest cities in the eastern part of the India. It is situated on the coast of the Bay of Bengal. The presiding deity is Shri Krishna, an avatar of Lord Vishnu celebrated as Lord Jagannatha.The main temple  is about 1000 years old and constructed by Raja Choda Ganga Deva and Raja Tritiya Ananga Bhima Deva. Puri is the site of the Govardhana Matha, one of the four cardinal institutions or Mathas established by Adi Shankaracharya. 

2. Dwarakadheesh Temple, Dwarka (Gujarat, West )

The Dwarkadhish temple, also known as the Jagat Mandir is a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Krishna, who is worshipped here by the name Dwarkadhish, or ‘King of Dwarka’. The main shrine of the 5-storied building, supported by 72 pillars .It is said to be around 2000-2200 years old.  According to tradition, the original temple was believed to have been built by Krishna’s grandson, Vajranabha, over Lord Krishna’s residential place. Dwarka located in the west is in the state of Gujarat, India. The city derives its name from the word “dwar” meaning door or gate in the Sanskrit language. It is located confluence to where the Gomti River merges into the Arabian Sea. However, this river Gomti is not the same Gomti River which is a tributary of Ganga River The city lies in the westernmost part of India. 

3. Badrinath Temple, Badrinath (Uttarakhand, North)

Badrinath or Badrinarayan Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu which is situated in the town of Badrinath in Uttarakhand, India. 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  self-manifested statues of Vishnu.

4. Rameswaram (TamilNadu, South)

According to Hindu mythology, this is the place from where Lord Rama, built a bridge Ram Setu to Lanka. The Ramanatha Swamy Temple devoted to Lord Shiva occupies a major area of Rameswaram. The temple is believed to have been blessed by Shri Rama Chandra. Rameswaram is important for the Hindus as a pilgrimage to visit Rameswaram in their lifetime. The main deity here is in the form of a Linga with the name Sri Ramanatha Swamy, it also is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas. Rama wanted a huge shiva lingam to worship Lord Shiva at this place. Hanuman was dispatched to Varanasi to bring the image of the lingam from the Kashi temple there. However he was delayed and the auspicious moment was about to pass. Therefore Sita built a lingam of sand and the prayers were conducted. This lingam is referred to as Ramalingam. When Hanuman returned with the lingam from Varanasi he was peeved to find that the prayers were completed. To placate him Sita also installed the Kashilingam and decreed that this lingam should be worshipped before the Ramalinga. Ramanathaswamy (Lord Shiva) is the primary deity of the Rameshwaram Temple. The inner sanctum has 2 lingams – the one brought by Hanuman from Himalayas (Kashilingam/Vishwalingam) and the one built by Sita (Ramalingam). 

In Hindu Puranas Hari (Vishnu) and Har (Shiv) are referred as eternal friends. It is said wherever there resides Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva also resides nearby. Char Dhams are also not exception of this. So the Kedarnath is considered as the pair of Badrinath, Ranganath Swami is considered the pair of Rameshwaram. Somnath is considered as the pair of Dwarka. However one thing is also to be noted here that according to some traditions the Char Dham are Badrinath, Ranganath-Swami, Dwarka and Jagannath-Puri all the four of which are Vaishnav sites and their associated places are Kedarnath, Rameshwaram, Somnath andLingaraja Temple, Bhubaneswar (or may be Gupteshwar) respectively.