Namami Gange | Tours and Travels

Char Dham conveys the presence of four sacred abodes but it has a great significance in Hindu religion. Char Dham originally used to refer to a pilgrimage circuit encompassing four holy sites which were located at four directions of India which were Badrinath (North), Puri (East), Rameshwar (South) and Dwarka (West). These were established by Saint Adi Shankaracharya in the 8th century AD. A relatively smaller circuit of Hindu pilgrimage is formed by the four places of Indian Himalayas, which are known as Char Dham of Himalayas or Char Dham of Uttarakhand, which comprises four sacred sites; Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath. There are three major sects in Hinduism: Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism. The Char Dham of India consists of three Vaishnavas location (Dwarakesh, Badrinath and Jaganath Puri) and one Shaivism (Rameshwar). Hindu Pilgrimage circuit of Indian Himalayas represents all the primary cults by having two Shakti sites (Yamunotri and Gangotri), one Vaishnav site ( Badrinath) and one Shaiva site ( Kedarnath). Saint Adi Shankaracharya, is believed to have attained freedom from his bodily form in Kedarnath.