Nestled in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, the sacred town of Joshimath spreads its celestial aura in the entire Garhwal region of Uttarakhand. The town of Joshimath is the winter seat of Lord Badri, whose idol is brought down from Badrinath temple to Joshimath. This holy town is revered by the Hindus for being an important pilgrimage centre of the country.
Joshimath is also popular as a hill station as it seated at an elevation of 1,890 metres above sea level. Also, the two mighty rivers, the Alaknanda and Dhauliganga meet at the confluence of Vishnuprayag overlooking the town of Joshimath. And the view of Hathi Parvat and other Himalayan Peaks is mystifying. It is also the gateway of many Himalayan expeditions, trekking trails, camping and pilgrimage centres.
The word ‘Jyotirmath’ literally means the place of Jyotirlinga of Shiva. It is here, Adi Guru Sri Shankaracharya founded ‘Jyotir Math’ along with the others at Sringeri, Puri, & Dwarka for revival of Hinduism. The math heads are titled “Shankaracharya”. According to the tradition initiated by Adi Shankara, this matha is in charge of the Atharvaveda. The Math has temples of Badrinarayan and Rajrajeshwari Devi. The math has a huge mulberry tree called Kalpavriksha. It is said to be around 1200 years old and is located atop a cave where Adi guru had meditated. Today hundreds of pilgrims visit Adiguru’s seat at Jyotirmath to listen to the holy discourse called parvachan every evening. The tree remains evergreen throughout the year and has never shed leaves on its own till now.
There are also numerous other temples in Joshimath. The most famous are Narsingh temple and Durga temple.
Narsinh Temple
This is an ancient temple of Lord Vishnu in Narsingh Avatar and main temple of Joshimath. It has idol of Lord Narsingh carrying a sword, which is considered to be established by Adi Shankaracharya.
Famous as a part of Sapt Badri, Narsingh temple is also called as Narsingh Badri temple. It is the place where Badrivishal rest during winters. The idol of Badrinath temple is taken down to Narsingh temple during the winters. It is then placed along with Narsingh idol.
As per the local belief, it is said that the arm carrying that sword is getting thinner year by year, and in Kaliyug this arm will break. When this happens, the mountains of Jay and Vijay at Vishnuprayag will collapse to block the route to Badrinath and make the journey inaccessible. The present world will be destroyed and Lord Badrinath will re-appear as a black stone at a new place called Bhavishya Badri.
Besides the idol of Lord Vishnu, the temple also has an image of Badrinath and brass idols of Lord Rama and Sita are also placed in a roofed building inside the temple.
Vasudeva Temple
This temple is one of the 108 Divya Desams, recognized by the Tamil Nadu Vaishnava saints as being very important Vishnu temples. .The black carved stone Deity of Lord Vasudeva is about 2m (6 ft) tall. He stands with his associates Sri, Bhu, Nila, and Kama. This temple is about 30 m from the Narasimhadeva Temple. To the left of the main entrance is a deity of dancing Ganesh, which is said to be one of only two such deities in India. This temple is very ancient, and no one knows exactly how old it is.
Source:
http://dreammountain800.blogspot.com/2015/09/bavishya-badri-in-uttarakhand.html
https://www.euttaranchal.com/tourism/joshimath.php
http://www.dreammountain.net/joshimath/
https://tourism.webindia123.com/tourism/hillstations/Jyotirmath/index.htm
http://www.bharatonline.com/uttarakhand/chamoli/joshimath.html
https://www.euttaranchal.com/tourism/narsingh-temple.php
http://www.holydham.com/joshimath/