Dates of closing of Char Dham portals for winter season announced on Vijayadashami

New Delhi: In Uttarakhand, the date of closing of portals of four shrines for the winter season has been announced on the auspicious occasion of Vijayadashami. Uttarakhand Char Dham Devasthanam Management Board said today that this year, the portals of the Badrinath temple will be closed for the winter on November 19. The portals of Gangotri will be closed on November 15, Govardhan Puja, the next day of Diwali, while portals of Yamunotri and Kedarnath shrines will be closed on November 16, Bhaidooj.

The Additional Chief Executive Officer of the Board, B D Singh, said the auspicious time for closing the portals of the Char Dham shrines is arrived at through astrological calculations by local temple bodies and priests.

Besides these Char Dham shrines, the portals of Tungnath temple will be closed on November 4. The four Himalayan pilgrimage sites of Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath, collectively called the Char Dham, located in Garhwal Himalayas, are among the most revered pilgrimages in the Hindu tradition and attract hundreds of thousands of pilgrims each year.

Traditionally, the Char Dham pilgrimage begins from the west from Yamunotri, proceeding to Gangotri and finally to Kedarnath and Badrinath in the east. This year, so far over 1 lakh 35 thousand pilgrims have visited the shrines since July 1.

After relaxations under Unlock 5.0 with the exemption of mandatory negative COVID-19 report, the number of pilgrims visiting these shrines has increased. Char Dham shrines were opened to people in the State on July 1.

Last year, a record 2.9 million pilgrims visited Char Dham.