Garuda Ganga

Enroute to Badrinath, there is a place where Garuda,the eagle(the vehicle of Lord Vishnu) prayed for many years to remove his sin. The river passes through this place is called Garuda Ganga. The placed is so sacred that  r the journey of  Badrinath commences only after worshipping of Garuda at this place. In other words its a gateway to Badrinath.Also every  rock  found in this river is considered sacred and used as worship. This is the only river that flows northward direction to merge with sacred river Alaknanda.As per legend once Lord Shiva visited Lord Vishnu. He saw that Garuda had caught his snake,Vasuki, who was wandering. To save his life the snake yelled for the help.Lord Vishnu intervened and commanded Garuda to let the snake go. But the Garuda answered with pride that if he would not allow him to eat the snake then Lord Vishnu would not be able to use him as his vehicle because he would be in the state of hunger. Lord Vishnu understood that Garuda is answering in his pride. He said that he could eat snake as a meal if  he able to bear the weight of his little finger on his back. This was the most easiest task for Garuda. When Lord Vishnu kept his little finger on the back of Garuda, he found it too heavy to move even for an inch.Garuda collapsed due to load. Garuda asked for the forgiveness for his sin. Lord Vishnu asked him to pray at the bank of river to get rid of his sin. So Garuda followed the command of his master. After the completion of prayer Lord Vishnu blessed him that every stone here at the bank of this river is blessed and the river would be known as " Garuda Ganga" .Also the this place would be the starting point of Badrinath region.

Nar & Narayan

In badrinath Dham there are two peaks behind the temple named as Nar & Narayan. In a previous incarnation the duo were supposedly born as the sages Nara and Narayana,and who performed great penances at the holy spot of Badrinath. Nara and Narayana were the avtar of Lord Vishnu. The twins were sons of Dharma and his wife Murti (Daughter OfDaksha) or Ahimsa..These two sages take avatars on earth for the welfare of mankind .There was an demon named Sahasra Kavacha. He had got boon of having 1000 Kavachas(armours).He had a boon that it will take 1000 Years to break each Kavacha, and the one ,who would break a Kavacha, would instantly die.Hence, first Narayana pennaced for 1000 Yrs and Nara fought 1000 Years with ShahasrKavacha and after 1000 Years, Nara was able to break his one Kavacha. As Nara broke the Kavacha,he died. But Narayan due his penance of 1000 Yrs could get back life of Nara and Narayan starts fighting and Nara starts penance for the next 1000 years.Nara and Narayana alternatively penace and fight for 1000 years and the cycle continued. At last, when they both were able to break 999 Kavachas. ShahasraKavacha hides himself behind the Surya with his last Kavacha due to fear that he would be killed by Nara and Narayana then. At this time, there was Pralaya(destruction) on earth due to the change of the Yuga. Thus ShashtraKavacha escapes death. In Dwapar Yuga,he was reborn as Karna with Kavacha and Nar and Narayan as Arjun and Krishna respectively.