After Kedarnath, the Gangotri and Yamunotri portals of the Badrinath Shrine were closed on Tuesday afternoon for the rest of the winter, amid a traditional Vedic ceremony performed by the priests. The deity will be worshipped at the alternate winter seat, Pandukeshwar, for the next six months before the resumption of the Chardham pilgrimage in 2026.
The portals of the Badrinath Shrine were closed for the winter season on Tuesday as per traditional rituals and the chanting of Vedic Mantras in the presence of a huge crowd of devotees.
Before this, on Monday, a special offering ceremony known as ‘Kadhai Bhog’ was organised at the Mata Lakshmi Temple as part of the five-day rituals ‘Panch Puja’ at the shrine premises.
As per tradition, the chief priest of the Badrinath shrine, Amarnath Namboodiri, extended a formal symbolic invitation to goddess Lakshmi to be seated inside the Badrinath sanctum sanctorum for the next six months.
With the closure of the Badrinath shrine’s portals, the winter process for all four Chardham pilgrimage sites has been completed as the deities have been shifted to their alternate seats.
Notably, the seat of worship for Kedarnath during winters is Omkareshwar Temple at Ukhimath, while that of Gangotri is at Mukhwa village near Harshil and Yamunotri at Kharsali. Every year, respective deities are brought to their winter abodes to continue pilgrimage for the six months of the season at these places.
As per the scheduled ‘Muhurt’ (auspicious time), the closure of the Badrinath Temple portals took place at 2.56 PM. During this time, the shrine campus resonated with the chants of “Jai Badri Vishal” by the thousands of devotees attending the ceremony.
Before the ceremony, the Badrinath temple was decorated with nearly ten quintals of flowers, and the five-day rituals, Panch Puja, had started on November 21. After the ceremony, the doors of Ganesh Temple, Adi Kedareswar Temple and the holy seat of Adi Shankaracharya were also closed with special prayers.