01Narada and the old man
Devarshi Narada sat in tapas at Animath, and Bhagwan Vishnu came to him in the form of an aged man. The murti here keeps that form, which is why the place is Vridha Badri, the old Badri. The Garhwal tradition adds that Badrinarayana was worshipped here before Adi Shankaracharya brought the murti back from the Narada Kund and enshrined it at Badrinath, so this is held to be the older seat of the same Bhagwan.
02On the road below Jyotirmath
Animath lies at about 1,380 metres, below Jyotirmath on the side of Helang, where the road to Kalpeshwar and the Urgam valley turns off. The temple is simple, a stone shrine in a village courtyard, and pilgrims doing the Panch Badri circuit usually take it together with Yogadhyan Badri at Pandukeshwar and Bhavishya Badri beyond Tapovan.
Animath is about 7 km from Jyotirmath by road. Ask locally for the turning; the shrine is in the village itself.
