Badrinath is a holy town in Chamoli district in the state of Uttarakhand. It is one of the four sites in India’s Char Dham pilgrimage and gets its name from the temple of Badrinath. Badrinath was established as a major pilgrimage site by Adi Shankara in the 7th century. In earlier days, pilgrims used to walk hundreds of miles to visit Badrinath temple.

Badrinath has an average elevation of 3,100 metres (10,170 feet). It is in the Garhwal Himalayas, on the banks of the Alaknanda River. As per hindu shastra the goddess Ganga was requested to descend to earth to help suffering humanity on the request of Suryavanshi king Bhagiratha, the earth was unable to withstand the force of her descent. Therefore, the mighty Ganga (Ganges) was split into two holy channels, with Alaknanda one of them.

The town lies between the Nar and Narayana mountain ranges 9 km east of Nilkantha peak. Badrinath is located 62 km northwest of Nanda Devi peak and 301 km north of Rishikesh. From Gaurikund (near Kedarnath) to Badrinath by road is 233 km.

The Badrinath area is referred to as Badari or Badarikaashram (बदरिकाश्रम) in Hindu scriptures. It is a place sacred to Vishnu, particularly in Vishnu’s dual form of Nara-Narayana.

The mountains around Badrinath are mentioned in the Mahabharata, when the Pandavas were said to have expired one by one, when ascending the slopes of a peak in western Garhwal called Swargarohini (literal meaning – the ‘Ascent to Heaven’). The Pandavas passed through Badrinath and the town of Mana, 4 km north of Badrinath, on their way to Svarga (heaven). There is also a cave in Mana where Vyasa, according to legend, wrote the Mahabharata.

The area around Badrinath was celebrated in Padma Purana as abounding in spiritual treasures.

This place is considered holy in Jainism as well. In Jainism, Himalaya is also called Ashtapad because of its eight different mountain range Gaurishankar, Kailash, Badrinath, Nanda, Drongiri, Nara-Narayana and Trishuli. Rishabhanatha attained Nirvana on Mount Kailash situated in the Himalayan range and according to Jain faith (Nirvankand), from badrinath numerous Jain Muni got Moksha by doing Tapsya. According to Shrimadbhagwat, at this place Rishabhdev’s father Nabhira] and mother Marudevi had done hard Tapa after Rishabhde’s Rajyabhishek and taken Samadhi. Even today footprint of Nabhirai at Neelkanth Mountain attracts everybody towards him.