Badrinath was established by Adi Shankara in ninth century as a major shrine. Shankaracharya is considered as the guru who brought renaissance for Hinduism in that era, which was then dominated by Buddhism. His arrival at Badrinath brought a revolution and restores people's trust in Hinduism. With the passage of time, Badrinath has seen significant surge in its popularity with an estimated 600,000 pilgrims visiting in the year of 2006. This is way more than 90,676 in 1961. The most of the tourists and devotees come here to visit Badrinath temple. The temple is a sacred pilgrimage site for Vaishnavites.
The Badrinath temple can also be described as the main attraction of the town. As per legends Adi guru Shankara found a black stone image of Lord Badrinarayan in Alaknanda River. The stone was made of Saligram stone. Initially he enshrined the stone image in a cave that was located in proximity of the Tapt Kund (hot springs). Later in 16th century, the King of Garhwal changed the murti to the present place.
Since then the temple has seen various renovations. Wear and tear forced several modifications and altercations in designs. Kings of Garhwal expanded the temple area by 17th century. In the great 1803 Himalayan earthquake, the temple suffered a lot of damage. But king of Jaipur then rebuilt it.
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