Char Dham

the four abodes), or the Chatur Dhama (Sanskrit: चतुर्धाम, romanized: Caturdhāma),[1] is a set of four Hindu pilgrimage sites in India,[2] consisting of Badrinath, Dwarka, Puri and Rameswaram.

[9] At the fourth dhāma, Puri, Vishnu is worshipped as Jagannath, his avatar for the current epoch, Kali Yuga.

The monk Adi Shankara organised four maṭhas to correspond to the four sites of the Char Dham: the headquarters at Dwarka in the West, Puri in the East, Sringeri Sharada Peetham in the South and Badarikashrama in the North.

[11] Puri is located in the state of Odisha and is one of the oldest cities in the eastern part of the country, on the coast of the Bay of Bengal.

The presiding deity is in the form of a Linga with the name Sri Ramanatha Swamy; it also is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas.

It is generally believed that due to damage and destruction by the sea, Dvārakā was submerged six times, and modern-day Dwarka is the 7th such city to be built in the area.

Nearby within 3 km, there are also other interesting sightseeing spots like Mana, Vyas Gufa, Maatamoorti, Charanpaduka, Bhimkund, and the Mukh of the Saraswati River.

The Chota Char Dham shrines are closed over winter due to snowfall and reopen for pilgrims with the advent of summer.

[17][18][19][20] The Uttarakhand government is promoting a ‘Winter Char Dham’ initiative to boost tourism during the off-season.

[21] During winter, the traditional Chota Char Dhams are closed and the deities are relocated to nearby villages for worship.