The Char Dham (), also rendered the Chatur Dhama () is a set of four pilgrimage sites in India. It is believed that visiting these sites helps achieve moksha (salvation). The four Dhams are Badrinath, Dwarka, Jagannath and Rameswaram. It is believed that every Hindu should visit the Char Dhams during one's lifetime. The Char Dham as defined by Adi Shankara (686–717 CE) consists of four Hindu pilgrimage sites. These main 'dhamas' are the shrines of Vishnu and Rameshwaram is a shrine of Shiva. All the 'dhamas' are related to four epochs,(1) Dham of Satyuga- Badrinath, Uttarakhand (2) Dham of Tretayuga -Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu (3) Dham of Dwaparayuga - Dvaraka, Gujarat (4) Dham of Kaliyuga - Jagannatha Puri, Odisha.
Description
According to Hindu belief, Badrinath became prominent when Nara-Narayana, an avatar of Vishnu, did Tapasya there. At that time that place was filled with berry trees. In the Sanskrit language, berries are called "badari", so the place was named Badarika-Vana, that is, the forest of berries. The particular spot where the Nara-Narayana did Tapasya, a large berry tree formed covering him to save him from the rain and the sun. Local people believe that Lakshmi became the berry tree to save Narayana. Post-Tapasya, Narayana said, people will always take Her Name before His Name, hence Hindus always refer "Lakshmi-Narayana". It was therefore called Badri-Nath, that is, the Lord of Berry forest. This all happened in the Satya Yuga. So Badrinath came to be known as the first Dhama. The temple is located on the banks of the Alaknanda River in the Chamoli district of Uttrakhand.
The second place, Rameswaram, got its importance in the Treta Yuga when Rama built a Shiva-Lingam here and worshipped it to get the blessings of Shiva. The name Rameswaram means "God of Rama". It is also believed that Rama's footprints are imprinted there.
The third, Dwaraka, got its importance in the Dvapara Yuga when Krishna made Dwaraka his residence instead of Mathura, his birthplace.
At the fourth, Puri, Vishnu is worshipped as Jagannatha, his avatara for the current epoch i.e Kali Yuga.
The four Shankaracharya Peetha (Seats) at the Char Dham school of Hinduism, created at least four Hindu monastic institutions. He organised the Hindu practitioners under four (Sanskrit: ) (institutions/monasteries), with the headquarters at Dvārakā in the West, Jagannatha Puri in the East, Sringeri Sharada Peetham in the South and Badarikashrama in the North.
The table below gives an overview of the four Amnaya Mathas founded by Adi Shankara, and their details.
The four associated places of the Char Dham
Hari (Vishnu) and Hara (Shiva) are called eternal friends in the Puranas. It is said wherever Vishnu resides; Shiva resides nearby. The Char Dham follows this rule. So Kedarnath is considered as the pair of Badrinath, Rama Setu is regarded as the pair of Rameswaram, Somnath is considered as the pair of Dwaraka, and Lingaraja is regarded as the pair of Jagannatha Puri. However, according to some traditions, the Char Dham are Badrinath, Ranganatha-Swami, Dwaraka, and Jagannatha-Puri, all of which are Vaishnava sites, and their associated places are Kedarnath, Rameswaram, Somnath and Lingaraja Temple, Bhubaneswar (or maybe Gupteshwar) respectively.
The Char Dham Highway project (Kedarnath, Bhadrinath, Gangotri, Yamunotri) is functional, and many service providers offer a Char Dham Yatra by helicopter to ease pilgrims.
Puri
Puri, located in the east, is located in the state of Odisha, India. Puri is one of the oldest cities in the eastern part of the country. It is situated on the Bay of Bengal coast. The main deity is Krishna, revered as Jagannatha. It is the only shrine in India where goddess Subhadra, sister of Krishna, is worshipped along with her brothers, Jagannatha and Balabhadra. The main temple here is about 1000 years old and constructed by Raja Choda Ganga Deva and Raja Tritiya Ananga Bhima Deva. Puri is the site of the Govardhana Matha, one of the four cardinal institutions or Mathas converted by Adi Shankara. Pandit Nilakantha Das suggested that Jagannath was a deity of Jain origin because of the appending of Nath to many Jain tirthankaras. Jagannath meant the 'World personified' in the Jain context and was derived from Jinanath. Evidence of the Jain terminology such as of Kaivalya, which means moksha or salvation, is found in the Jagannath tradition. Similarly, the twenty two steps leading to the temple, called the Baisi Pahacha, have been proposed as symbolic reverence for the first 22 of the 24 Tirthankaras of Jainism.