Why Only a Keralite Priest is Made a Head Priest in Badrinath Temple?

All the shrines in Garhwal have local priests, but this single shrine always has a head priest from Kerala. Do you know why ?

It’s because Adi Shankaracarya himself hailed from Kerala, hence it is in that vein of thought that Nambudiri priests are installed in this temple. Besides the Rawals of Badrinath, the Pashupatinath temple in Nepal traditionally has Namboodiri (Keralite) priests. At the same time, the priests at Rameshwaram are originally from Ayodhya.

These traditions are at least as old as Shankaracharya’s period (7th century AD).

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