Badrinath is famous as one of the larger Char Dhamas of India;. They are Ramesvaram, Jagannath Puri, Dwarka and Badrinath. Situated high in the Himalayas on the banks of the Alakananda river Badrinath has been visited by great saintly persons since time immemorial. The deity in the temple is self-manifested from a salagram sila and is two feet high. Nearby is the cave where Srila Vyasadeva wrote down the Vedic scriptures. The border of China is only a few meters away.