The Philosopher Who Tied Four Mountains Together

The priests at Badrinath, high in the Himalaya near the Tibetan border, come from Kerala.

They have for twelve hundred years. They are Nambudiri Brahmins, called the Rawals, and their families come from the far south of the country, three thousand miles from the temple they serve.

Somebody arranged that deliberately, in the eighth century, and it has not been interrupted since.

Two mountains, two gods

Kedarnath belongs to Shiva. Badrinath belongs to Vishnu. They stand in the same range and they had nothing to do with each other.

Tradition says the Pandavas built the first shrine at Kedarnath. They came into these mountains after Kurukshetra looking for Shiva's forgiveness, not for losing, but for the killing they had done in a war fought for dharma. Even a just war left them needing to be forgiven.

Badrinath's story is gentler. Vishnu sat down to meditate there and would not be moved, and Lakshmi took the form of a badri tree and stood over him to keep the weather off. The tree gave the place its name.

Both are hard to reach, and always have been. Kedarnath is still a steep trek of several kilometres. Badrinath sits near the Tibetan frontier in country that closes under snow for half the year.