dehradun

Updated: Nov 20, 2019 07:54 IST

A day after portals of all the Chardham shrines closed for the winter season, chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Tuesday gave Prime Minister Narendra Modi credit for a record number pilgrims visiting - Kedarnath, Badrinath, Yamunotri and Gangotri.

“This year, more than 34 lakh 81 thousand devotees have visited Chardham and Hemkund Sahib. Modi after visiting Kedarnath and Badrinath shrines gave the message of clean and safe Chardham Yatra to all devotees, which brought a large number of pilgrims here,” Rawat wrote on his Twitter handle.

Rawat expressed a heartfelt gratitude to “all the distinguished people, devotees who visited the Chardham shrines. I also thank all the security forces, officers, policemen who were able to conduct the journey in a peaceful and successful manner”.

Over 10 lakh pilgrims visited Kedarnath this year, Badrinath welcomed over 12.44 lakh pilgrims. Over 4.65 lakh pilgrims visited Yamunotri and over 5.30 lakh pilgrims went to Gangotri this year. Sikh shrine of Hemkund Sahib witnessed over 2.40 lakh pilgrims this year.

BD Singh, chief executive officer of Badri-Kedar Temple Committee, said, “Definitely the credit goes to Prime Minister Modi and our chief minister also. In the 1800s some 5,000 pilgrims used to come to Badrinath, then after 100 years in 1970s the figure increased to lakhs, which in another 40 years went up to three- four lakhs, but since Prime Minister’s regular visits to Kedarnath shrine, the number of pilgrims have been ever increasing, touching new records every year.”

Four Himalayan shrines - Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath – are collectively called Chardham that attracts lakhs of pilgrims each year. Last year, Badrinath shrine received over 10 lakh pilgrims number of pilgrims who visited Kedarnath was over 7 lakh.

Modi visited Rudra meditation cave in Kedarnath in May. He spent a day meditating at the Rudra caves, nearly a km from the Kedarnath shrine. Following Modi’s visit, the cave received a significant number of bookings from across the country for meditating in the same cave. He also visited the Badrinath shrine this year in May. Traditionally, Chardham pilgrimage begins from the west and from Yamunotri, then proceeding to Gangotri and finally to Kedarnath and Badrinath in the east.

The first Dham Yamunotri is located 3,300 metres up in the Garhwal Himalayas and marks the source of the Yamuna.

Gangotri is located near the source of the Ganges, over 3,000 metres up in the Garhwal Himalayas, where according to Hindu tradition Goddess Ganga descended when Lord Shiva released the mighty river from the locks of his hair.

Badrinath is located along the banks of the Alaknanda River in Chamoli district at a height of over 10,000 feet.

Kedarnath shrine is located near Mandakini river in Rudraprayag district. According to tradition, the shrine was built by Pandavas and revived by Adi Sankaracharya . The shrine was the worst affected area during the 2013 flash floods that killed over 5,000 people.