admin Updated on: November 22, 2018

The Portals of Famous Chota Char Dham are Closed for 2018: Dates for 2019 will Disclose Soon

With the closure of the Badrinath Temple on 20th November, the Char Dham Yatra 2018 came to an end. However, the doors of other three shrines – Yamunotri, Gangotri and Kedarnath have already been closed for the year. On the last day of Badrinath, a total of 5237 devotees came to pay their obeisance say the sources. Similarly, the temples of Rudranath, Madhyamaheshwar and Tungnath are also closed for the year 2018. Apart from Badrinath, the closing dates of the rest of the temples were observed in the first half of November. For the next six months, all the four temples of Char Dham will be worshipped at their winter abodes.

An Overview of Char Dham Yatra

With Yamunotri, Gangotri, Badrinath, and Kedarnath make one of the most revered pilgrimages of Hindu religion – Chota Char Dham. The sacred travel route of Chota Char Dham, which is also known as the Char Dham Yatra, boasts an entirely different religious significance in the hearts of the devotees. Perched at high altitudes, all the four temples of Char Dham flooded with thousands of devotees each day during their opening period, which is observed from April/May to October/November.

The weather condition of high altitudes at which the temples of Char Dham are located does not allow pilgrims to perform pilgrimage during the winter season because of the heavy snowfall. Therefore, in winters, the idols of Lord Badrinath and Kedarnath along with Goddess Gangotri and Yamunotri are transferred to other temples.

An Insight to the Records and Achievements of 2018 Char Dham Yatra

Opened in the month of April, this year, Char Dham finally regained its charm after the losses faced by the devastating flood in 2013. In 2018, a larger chunk of devotees’ flock to perform this sacred journey and as a result of which, it achieves the feat of witnessing a maximum number of devotees in the last seven years.

• As per the official sources, this year, the temples of Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath witnessed altogether a tremendous 26.13 lakhs of devotees. However, earlier in 2012, the number of devotees who observed the Char Dham Yatra was 25.7 lakhs.
• If compared the stats with that of 2017, in 2018, there is almost an increase of 2.61 lakh devotees who visit the Char Dham.
• The first day of Char Dham Yatra 2018 itself received record-breaking footfall 25 thousand devotees visited the temples, which is quite an astonishing fact.
• Initially, after the opening of Char Dham in April, every day almost 10,000 devotees were performing the pilgrimage, however, the number later got increased to 20-22 thousand.
• Of all total number of devotees, more than 17 lakhs of pilgrims visited the temples of Kedarnath and Badrinath this year.
• Whereas, the other two temples (Gangotri and Yamunotri) received a heavy footfall of more than 8 lakhs of devotees.
• The increasing number of devotees at Char Dham in 2018 also resulted in an increase in the revenue of the temples up to 11 crores. That’s a record-breaking revenue!
• Keeping huge gathering of pilgrims at the temples, the darshan timings of all the four temples also extended by the temple committee.

The increase in the footfall of devotees at these temples indicate the growing attention of the people and pilgrims who are showing their interest to visit Char Dham after the devastating flood in 2013. Similarly, the year 2018 was also very beneficial for the temples of Tungnath, Madhyamaheshwar and Rudranath also received a significant footfall of devotees. A large number of devotees also performed their Char Dham Yatra with these temples.

Opening and Closing Dates of Char Dham in 2018

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• Yamunotri temple was opened on 18th April and bid adieu on the pious occasion of Bhai Dooj, which is on 9th November at 8:30 AM.
• Like Yamunotri, the gates of Gangotri temple was also opened on 18th April, whereas, the closing of the temple was observed on 8th November at 12:30 PM.
• Followed by this, the holy portals of Badrinath temple were unlatched on 30th April. The closing ceremony of the temple was observed on 20th November at 3:21 PM.
• 21st April was the date when Kedarnath temple was opened for pilgrims in 2018. However, on 9th November, the portals of the temple were closed ceremoniously at 3:15 PM.

Similarly, the holy portals of Tungnath temple closed on 29th October at 10:15 AM, whereas the Madhyamaheshwar Temple marked its closing on the same day of closing of Badrinath Temple, i.e., on 20 November. However, the timings were different; Tungnath closed at 8:30 AM. On the other hand, the holy portals of Rudranath temple marked their closing on 17th October.

Char Dham Yatra in Winter

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Despite the fact that Chota Char Dham remains inaccessible for pilgrims for the whole winter season every year, one can still perform a pilgrimage to the temples. After the closing of all the four holy abodes, the deities are shifted to other locations where they are worshipped for the next six months until the temples reopen. This allows pilgrims to plan a Char Dham tour in winters also.

• Omkareshwar Temple in Ukhimath serves as the winter seat of Kedarnath.
• Badrinath and Gangotri find their places for the rest of the winter season in Vasudev Temple of Joshimath and Mukhimath Temple of Mukba, respectively.
• Whereas, the Shani Dev Temple in Kharsali remains the winter home of Yamunotri.

On the other hand, the idols of Madhyamaheshwar and Tungnath are also shifted to another location in winters where the deities are worshipped until they are transferred back to their abodes.

• The idol of Madhyamaheshwar is worshipped at Omkareshwar Temple in Ukhimath for the winter season.
• Makkumath becomes the winter home of the Tungnath temple.
• Similarly, Lord Rudranath find their place in Gopinath temple of Gopeshwar and is worshipped there till the reopening of the temple.

Be Ready to Make it in 2019

If you miss your chance of visiting Chota Char Dham temple in 2018, you can make it in 2019. Every year, the temples of Char Dham are reopened in the month of April or May and the itineraries of the trips are prepared by the devotees months in advance. However, the exact opening date of Char Dham 2019 will be disclosed somewhere in the month of March. Like the closing of all the four temples, the opening dates are also not the same for the temple. You can also consider us to plan a trip to Char Dham temples in 2019 for you. Our amazing Char Dham tour packages allow tourists to have the best of their pilgrimage time in the Himalayas and that too at a great price. So, plan you Char Dham tour for 2019 now to get early-bird discount and deals.

Published: 26 Oct, 2018