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“THE PLACE YOU CAN’T
IMAGINE”
The Char Dham
is the most important Hindu pilgrimage circuit
in the Indian Himalayas. Located in the Garhwal
section of the state of Uttarakhand (formerly
the northwestern section of Uttar Pradesh), the
circuit consists of four sites—Yamunotri,
Gangotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath. While each
site is unique in its own fashion, inclusion
 in
the Char Dham has, over time, caused them to be
viewed together in popular imagination and
actual pilgrimage practice.
Nestling in lofty, snowy GARHWAL HIMALAYA’S
peaks are the four most pious pilgrimages of
India- Sri Kedarnath, Sri Badrinath, Yamunotri
and Gangotri, collectively called the Char Dham.
The region (Uttarakhand) is referred as the land
of the Gods in the epic and Puranas.
Char Dham are the four seats of God in four
directions of India- BADRINATH is the North,
RAMESWAREM in south, DWARKA in the west and PURI
is the east. They were collated by the 8 th
century’s Philosopher and reformer ADI
SHANKRACHAYA.
The importance of the Char Dham an actual
destination and
 an object of the national Hindu
religious imagination has increased
significantly. Buoyed by the development of new
forms of bourgeois "religious tourism" the Char Dham has become an important destination for
pilgrims. Today, the Char Dham sees upwards of
250,000 unique visitors in an average pilgrimage
season, which lasts from approximately April 15
until Diwali (sometimes in November).
The season is heaviest in the two-month period
before the monsoon. Despite the danger, pilgrims
do continue to visit the Char Dham in the
monsoon period, as well as after the rains end.
Although temperatures at the shrines in the
early winter months (the last of October and
November) are inhospitable, it is said that the
incredible mountain scenery that surrounds the
sites is most vivid after the rains have had a
chance to moisten the dust of the plains below.
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