Joshimath

Town and sacred site (tirtha) in the
Himalayas on the banks of the
Alakananda River, in the Chamoli
district of the state of Uttar Pradesh.
Joshimath is the location of the Jyotir
math, one of the four maths, or
dwelling places for ascetics, supposedly
established by the philosopher
Shankaracharya. The Jyotir math is
home to Dashanami Sanyasis, or twiceborn renunciant ascetics. According to
local legend, the Jyotir Math is the place
where Shankaracharya attained the ultimate realization and composed his
commentaries on the Hindu scriptures.
Aside from the Jyotir math, Joshimath is
famous for its connection to a temple
dedicated to Narasimha, the god
Vishnu’s Man-Lion avatar. This temple
was also reportedly established by
Shankaracharya and contains several
stunning sculptural images. Joshimath
is an important transit point on the
road to the temple at Badrinath, and
it is also the winter seat of Badrinath’s
presiding deity, where he (symbolically
represented by a traveling image)
resides and is worshiped during the
winter months, when Badrinath
becomes snowbound and inaccessible.
See also Narasimha avatar.