The Char Dham (meaning: four abodes) 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, Puri and Rameswaram. It is believed that every Hindu should visit the Char Dhams during one's lifetime. The Char Dham as defined by Adi Shankaracharya consists of four Hindu pilgrimage sites. These main 'dhams' are the places of Lord Vishnu and Rameshwaram is of lord Shiva. All the 'dhams' are related to four epochs,(1) Dham of Satyug- Badrinath, Uttarakhand (2) Dham of Tretayug -Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu (3) Dham of Dwaperyug - Dwarika, Gujarat (4) Dham of Kaliyug - Jaganath Puri, Odisha. Another small circuit in Uttarakhand of four pilgrimage sites-Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath is referred to as Chota Char Dham. According to Hindu belief, Badrinath became prominent when Nar-Narayan, an avatar of Vishnu, did Tapasya there. At that time that place was filled with berry trees. In the Sanskrit language, berries are called "badri", so the place was named Badrika-Van, i.e. the forest of berries. The particular spot where the Nar-Narayan did Tapasya, a large berry tree formed covering Him to save Him from the rain and the sun. Local people believe that Mata Lakshmi became the berry tree to save Lord Narayan. Post-Tapasya, Narayan said, people will always take Her Name before His Name, hence Hindus always refer "Lakshmi-Narayan". It was therefore called Badri-Nath, i.e. the Lord of Berry forest. This all happened in the Satya Yuga. So Badrinath came to be known as the first Dham. The second place, Rameswaram, got its importance in the Treta Yuga when Lord Rama built a Shiva-Lingam here and worshiped it to get the blessings of Lord Shiva. The name Rameswaram means "God of Ram". It is also believed that Bhagwan Ram footprints are imprinted there. NV.
