Badrinath shrine opens amid lockdown, 1st prayers performed on PM Modi’s behalf

DEHRADUN: The Badrinath shrine in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district, which is one of Char Dhams or the four main pilgrimage centres of the Hindus, opened on early Friday without the usual throng of pilgrims amid the Coronavirus pandemic.

A state government official privy to the development said the portals were opened at 4.30am amid rituals performed by the head priest Rawal Ishwari Prasad Nambudiri and 10 others priests of the shrine.

“The preparations for the portal opening ritual had started at 3am while following the precautions in the pandemic. As it as an important occasion every year at the shrine, the whole temple was decorated with about 10 quintals of flowers,” said the official.

“However, for the first time there was no traditional military band to mark the occasion nor any pilgrims at the temple to witness the holy rituals of portal opening due to Covid-19 pandemic,” the official added.

The first puja was performed by the priests on behalf of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at 9am after the Badrinath Temple opened. Meanwhile, the Uttarakhand government will take a decision on whether to allow the Kanwar Yatra that attracts over 3 crore devotees to Haridwar, after lockdown 4.0 guidelines are issued by the Centre.

Cabinet minister and state government spokesperson Madan Kaushik said the matter will be discussed after guidelines for lockdown 4.0 are announced by the Central government. Kanwar Yatra is an annual pilgrimage of Shiva devotees, known as Kanvarias to Haridwar, Gaumukh and Gangotri in Uttarakhand to fetch the holy water of the Ganga River.

The devotees gather Ganga water (Gangajal) and carry it across hundreds of miles to offer the same in their local Shaiva shrines. In Kanwar Yatra which starts after monsoons, the devotees come from the states of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh to Uttarakhand.

Due to their arrival in huge numbers, the Uttarakhand government has to make special arrangements for their safety and to facilitate the smooth conduct of the yatra.