The 2024 Char Dham pilgrimage season has officially concluded, with the final rituals marking the closure of the revered Badrinath Temple. On Saturday, over 10,000 devotees gathered to seek the blessings of Lord Badri Vishal, participating in a series of significant ceremonies, including the preparation of hundreds of kilos of offerings in honor of the season’s end.
The closure process reached its peak on Friday, November 15, with the cessation of Vedic chants, known as Veda Richas, marking the temple’s transition into its winter phase. The doors of the Badrinath Temple, dedicated to Lord Vishnu, will officially close for the winter at 9:07 p.m. on Sunday, November 17, after the symbolic handover of the Veda Upanishads to the temple’s Rawal (chief priest) and Dharmadhikari (religious head).
The closure rituals, which began on November 13 with the closing of the Shri Ganesh Temple, also included the shutting of other important shrines in the region, such as the Adi Kedareshwar and Adi Guru Shankaracharya temples. These activities form part of the Panch Puja, a series of sacred rituals that prepare the temple complex for the long winter.
A key component of the closure rituals, the Khatag Puja, was completed on Friday, followed by a special Kadhai Bhog offering to Goddess Lakshmi at her temple. Prayers were offered for the safe return of Lord Badrinath to his sanctum sanctorum during the winter season.
The Char Dham temples—Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath—are all set to close for the winter months, marking the conclusion of the 2024 pilgrimage. Gangotri, dedicated to Goddess Ganga, was the first to close on November 2, followed by Yamunotri and Kedarnath on November 3, coinciding with the festival of Bhai Dooj. The Kedarnath Temple, which had been adorned with over 10 quintals of flowers, held a grand ceremony to mark its closure.
Other prominent temples in Uttarakhand, including Rudranath (closed October 17), Tungnath (closed November 4), and Madhyamaheshwar (closing November 20), are also now closed for the winter. The doors of Bhakunta Bhairavnath, the protector deity of Kedarnath, were shut on October 29.
These temple closures, traditionally aligned with the Dussehra festival, are essential for preserving both the temples and their surrounding areas during the harsh winter months. The shrines will reopen in the spring, typically in April or May, welcoming devotees for the 2025 pilgrimage season.
The Char Dham Yatra, a sacred pilgrimage that attracts thousands of devotees annually, follows a clockwise route through Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath. The seasonal temple closures ensure that these sacred sites remain protected and preserved, ready to receive pilgrims once again when the weather warms.
