Char Dham (National)
The four sacred abodes at India's cardinal points — Badrinath (north), Dwarka (west), Puri (east) and Rameshwaram (south) — traditionally linked to Adi Shankaracharya's reorganisation of Hindu pilgrimage. Distinct from the Uttarakhand 'Chota Char Dham'.
Significance & tradition
The four Dhams mark India's cardinal directions and are traditionally each linked to one of the four Vedas and a presiding form of Vishnu, forming a nationwide pilgrimage many devotees aim to complete once in a lifetime rather than in a single trip.
History
The circuit's organization is traditionally credited to Adi Shankaracharya (8th century CE), who is said to have established a matha (monastery) at or near each site as part of a broader project to knit India's regional Vaishnava and Shaiva traditions into one shared devotional geography — see the related Shankaracharya Matha circuit.
How this list was compiled
An exhaustive, uncontested list of exactly four sites.