Description

 Badrinath became prominent when Nara-Narayana, an avatar of Vishnu, did Tapasya there. At that time that place was filled with berry trees. In the Sanskrit language, berries are called "badari", so the place was named Badarika-Vana, that is, the forest of berries. The particular spot where the Nara-Narayana did Tapasya, a large berry tree formed covering him to save him from the rain and the sun. Local people believe that Lakshmi became the berry tree to save Narayana. Post-Tapasya, Narayana said, people will always take her name before his name, hence Hindus refer "Lakshmi-Narayana". It was therefore called Badri-Nath, that is, the Lord of Berry forest. This all happened in the Satya Yuga. So Badrinath came to be known as the first Dhama. The temple is located on the banks of the Alaknanda River in the Chamoli district of Uttrakhand.

The second place, Rameswaram, got its importance in the Treta Yuga when Rama built a Shiva-Lingam here and worshipped it to get the blessings of Shiva. The name Rameswaram means "God of Rama". It is believed that Rama's footprints are imprinted there.^[6]

The third, Dwaraka, got its importance in the Dvapara Yuga when Krishna made Dwaraka his residence instead of Mathura, his birthplace.^[7]

At the fourth, Puri, Vishnu is worshipped as Jagannatha, his avatara for the current epoch i.e Kali Yuga.