High in the Garhwal Himalayas of Uttarakhand lie four shrines walked together as a single summer pilgrimage, opening when the snows retreat and closing again with winter. Two honour the sources of sacred rivers: Yamunotri, at the head of the Yamuna, revered as the Goddess Yamuna, and Gangotri, near where the Ganga descends toward the plains, whose coming to earth is told in the Puranas through the penance of King Bhagiratha. The other two are abodes of Shiva and Vishnu — Kedarnath, where tradition holds the Pandavas sought Shiva after the war at Kurukshetra, and where he abides as one of the Jyotirlingas; and Badrinath, where the Bhagavata Purana tells that Vishnu, as the sages Nara and Narayana, undertook long penance for the good of all beings.
Each shrine has been revered on its own for ages, and their joining into one circuit — set apart from the four-direction Char Dham by the name Chota, the smaller — gives pilgrims a path that rises through the mountains from river to river to peak. Devotees traditionally begin at Yamunotri and continue to Gangotri, then to Kedarnath and finally Badrinath, gathering the sacred waters, the mountains, and the presence of the divine along the way.
