Temples

Dilwara Temples (Mount Abu)

Vimal Vasahi Temple

The oldest of the Dilwara temples, built in 1031 by Vimal Shah — a Jain minister to the Solanki king Bhima I — and dedicated to Adinath, the first Tirthankara. It is the earliest of a group that grew between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries, and the one that set the pattern: pure white marble worked into concentric rings of dancers, musicians and elephants across the central dome, and pillars carved individually rather than repeated. These are active Svetambara pilgrimage temples managed by a religious trust, not monuments, so visiting hours and dress are set by the temple rather than by the tourism department.

Varanasi

Kashi Vishwanath Temple

One of the twelve Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva, at the heart of the new corridor.

Malayattoor

St. Thomas Hilltop Shrine

The Vatican-recognised hilltop church reached by a forest climb.

Kedarnath

Kedarnath Temple

The ancient stone Jyotirlinga temple of Lord Shiva amid snow peaks.

Mehsana

Modhera Sun Temple

An eleventh-century temple to Surya on the bank of the Pushpavati, built under Bhima I and Karna I of the Chaulukya dynasty. It has not been used for worship for a very long time and is a protected monument under the Archaeological Survey of India, which is why you can walk through all of it. Three parts: the shrine hall, the assembly hall in front of it, and the kunda — a stepped tank with small shrines set into every tier, running down to the water. The carving on the exteriors and pillars is the reason to come, and the tank is the reason to come early.

Ellora Caves

Kailash Temple (Cave 16)

Cut downwards out of one piece of hillside in the eighth century until a complete two-storey temple stood clear of the rock — nothing was added, only stone taken away. Ellora closes on Tuesdays. Walk up the side path for the view down into it.

Deoghar (Baidyanath Dham)

Baidyanath Temple

The Jyotirlinga of Shiva at the centre of the Shravan kanwar pilgrimage.

Valsad

Tithal Sai Baba Temple

A prominent spiritual temple complex resting directly on the beach rocks of Tithal. Built using high-quality stone masonry, it features a grand prayer hall housing a beautiful white marble icon of Sai Baba that overlooks the crashing ocean waves.

Ranakpur Jain Temple

Chaumukha Adinath Temple

Chaturmukha Dharana Vihara, the four-faced temple — begun in the fifteenth century by Dharna Shah, a local Jain merchant, and dedicated to Adinath, the first Tirthankara of the present cycle. It is one of the largest Jain temples in India and the principal Svetambara pilgrimage site in this part of Rajasthan. The count everyone quotes is 1,444 marble pillars, and the claim that no two are carved alike holds up better than most such claims. Four entrances face four directions onto four images of Adinath. A working temple: leather off at the gate, and hours for visitors are set by the trust.

Bhimashankar

Bhimashankar Temple

The hill Jyotirlinga temple of Shiva in the Sahyadri forests.

Murudeshwar Beach

Shiva Statue & Temple

One of the world's tallest Shiva statues beside a sea-facing temple.

Mangala Gauri Temple

Vishnupad Temple Front

A riverside temple three kilometres out, built over a stone footprint held to be Vishnu's. Pilgrims come here for ancestral rites; non-Hindus are not admitted to the inner sanctum.

Bhramaramba (Mallikarjuna) Temple

Sri Mallikarjuna Swamy Temple

The adjacent sacred Shiva shrine, allowing pilgrims to touch the Jyotirlinga stone directly during scheduled public darshan hours.

Ganpatipule Beach

Ganpatipule Ganesh Temple

A swayambhu Ganesh temple right beside the beach.

Varanasi

Kashi Vishwanath Mandir

The golden-spired Jyotirlinga temple of Shiva. The approach to it has recently been rebuilt as a wide, barrier-free pedestrian corridor.

Hemkund Sahib

Lakshman Temple

A small temple beside the lake at Hemkund, marking where Lakshman is said to have meditated. At 4,600 metres, so do not linger.

Porbandar

Kirti Mandir

The house where Gandhi was born in 1869, and the small museum built beside it for him and Kasturba. Inside are objects he used, life-size portraits of the two of them, old photographs and a library of his writing and of books about his thinking. The ancestral home itself is entered through the museum — narrow rooms, steep stairs, and a marked spot on the floor. It is modest by design, and the contrast with the Statue of Unity three hours away is worth sitting with. World leaders have made the trip; most visitors need about half an hour.

Kalighat Kali Temple

Natmandir Plaza

The large pillared hall facing the main shrine, open on all sides and built for devotional singing and community gatherings.

Girnar (Jain Temples)

Girnar Jain Temple Group

A cluster of Jain temples partway up Girnar, the ancient hill above Junagadh, and one of the great Svetambara pilgrimages — a Mahatirth. Tradition holds that Neminath, the twenty-second Tirthankara, attained omniscience here and later nirvana at the highest peak, along with five hundred and thirty-three other enlightened sages; the Kalpa Sutra and the Uttaradhyayana Sutra both describe it. The temples sit several thousand steps above the base. The climb is the point and it is a real one — start before dawn, or take the ropeway up and walk down.

Haridwar

Daksha Mahadev Temple

At Kankhal, five kilometres south, and the site the whole Sati story turns on — this is where her father held the sacrifice she died at. Quieter than Har Ki Pauri and more interesting for it.

Chotila Hill

Chamunda Mata Hilltop Temple

On the summit of Chotila hill, up a stair of around a thousand steps, with two icons of the goddess in one shrine. Start early: there is no shade going up and the steps get hot.

Hazratbal Shrine (Srinagar)

Hazratbal Shrine

The white-marble lakeside shrine housing a sacred relic of the Prophet.

Girnar Hills

Guru Dattatreya Paduka Temple

At the very top of Girnar's stair, which everyone counts as 9,999 steps. Dattatreya's footprints are the object of worship, on a rock platform barely wider than the shrine. The ropeway stops well below — the last stretch has to be walked.

Kushinagar

Mahaparinirvana Temple

Houses a 6-metre reclining statue of the dying Buddha.

Somnath

Somnath Mahadev Temple

The first of the twelve jyotirlingas of Shiva, at Prabhas Patan near Veraval on the Saurashtra coast, and one of the most contested sites in Indian history. The Mahabharata and the Bhagavata Purana both name a tirtha here long before archaeology can confirm a building; the earliest datable temple falls somewhere between the first centuries CE and the ninth. It was destroyed and rebuilt repeatedly, beginning with Mahmud of Ghazni's raid in January 1026. The ruins standing at independence were cleared and the present temple built in the Maru-Gurjara style. The sea starts immediately behind it.

Bodh Gaya

Mahabodhi Temple & Bodhi Tree

The UNESCO temple beside the tree under which the Buddha was enlightened.

Mathura & Vrindavan

Banke Bihari Temple

Vrindavan's most beloved Krishna temple, famous for its lively darshan.

Gokarna

Mahabaleshwar Temple

The historic 4th-century Dravidian granite temple complex housing the sacred Atmalinga stone relic, managed by traditional scholars.

Kullu

Raghunath Temple

The historic 17th-century spiritual anchor of the valley housing the sacred royal idol of Lord Rama.

Shirdi

Samadhi Mandir

The temple enshrining Sai Baba's tomb, the heart of the pilgrimage.

Pavagadh Hill

Kalika Mata Temple

A Mahakali shrine on the summit of Pavagadh, about forty-six kilometres from Vadodara and one of the most visited hill shrines in Gujarat. The records point to a Jain origin — the temple belonged to the Svetambara Achalgaccha sect, and the Mahakali image was installed in the twelfth century. The hill and the ruined city below it form the Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park, which UNESCO listed in 2004 as the only complete pre-Mughal Islamic city in India. A ropeway covers most of the climb; the last stretch is steps, and it is shoulder to shoulder at weekends.

Kanchipuram

Kailasanathar Temple

The city's oldest temple, an 8th-century Pallava sandstone masterpiece.

Somnath

Somnath Temple

The grand seaside Jyotirlinga temple of Lord Shiva.

Shamlaji

Shamlaji Vishnu Temple

A Vishnu temple in Aravalli district and one of the busier pilgrimage centres in north Gujarat. The present building is fifteenth or sixteenth century, though it may have been begun in the eleventh in the Chaulukya style; the Vishnu image in the sanctuary is older still, probably seventh or eighth century, and the small temple facing it holds a sixth-century Shiva. The oldest intact structure on the site is the ninth-century Harishchandrani Chauri, with its gateway, off to one side and usually walked past. The fair at Kartik Poornima is when the town fills.

Jamnagar

Bala Hanuman Temple

Chanting of the Ram dhun has gone on here without a break since August 1964, which put the temple in the Guinness records. Someone is always singing. You can sit down and join in or just listen.

Haridwar

Chandi Devi Temple

On Neel Parvat across the river, four kilometres out, by ropeway or a three-kilometre climb. One of the Siddha Peethas, and it pairs with Mansa Devi on the opposite hill.

Pushkar

Savitri Devi Temple

A prominent hilltop temple perched on Ratnagiri Hill, accessible via a passenger ropeway and famous for panoramic sunrise views of the entire town.

Ujjain (Mahakaleshwar)

Mahakaleshwar Temple

The Jyotirlinga of Shiva famed for the daily pre-dawn Bhasma Aarti.

Haridwar

Mansa Devi Temple

On Bilwa Parvat above the town, three kilometres up by ropeway or on foot. Pilgrims tie a thread here and come back to untie it if the wish is granted.

Mathura & Vrindavan

Bankey Bihari Temple

The curtain is drawn across the deity every minute or two rather than left open — the tradition holds that an unbroken gaze is too much to bear. There are no bells here either. Very crowded, and the Mangala aarti happens only once a year.

Girnar Hills

Neminath Jain Temples

A walled cluster of marble Jain temples around the 3,500-step mark, built between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries. Neminath's temple at the centre is the main one, and the courtyards are the first flat ground on the climb, so most people rest here.

Dwarka

Dwarkadhish Temple (Jagat Mandir)

The Jagat Mandir — a Krishna temple where he is worshipped as Dwarkadhish, lord of Dwarka, and one of the four Char Dham sites of the Hindu pilgrimage circuit. Five storeys carried on seventy-two pillars, with a spire visible across the town and a flag that is changed by hand several times a day. Archaeology puts the earliest temple on this spot at around 200 BCE; what stands now is largely a fifteenth- and sixteenth-century rebuilding. There are two gates, one to enter by and one to leave by, and a queue at both right through the morning.

Shatrunjaya Hill

Adinath Temple

The grandest and most sacred primary temple inside the summit enclave, dedicated to the first Jain Tirthankara. It features detailed white marble pillars, friezes, and a jewel-encrusted deity image.

Pushkar

Jagatpita Brahma Mandir

One of very few temples anywhere dedicated to Brahma, and by some distance the most important of them. The structure dates to the fourteenth century with later partial rebuilding, in marble and stone slabs, with a red shikhara and a hamsa — the goose that carries Brahma — as its motif. The sanctum holds a four-headed image of Brahma with Gayatri beside him, and the temple is governed by a Sanyasi ascetic priesthood. It stands a few minutes from Pushkar Lake, to which its legend is tied. Shoes come off well before the steps, and cameras are not welcome in the sanctum.

Ayodhya

Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir

Opened in January 2024 in pink Rajasthani sandstone, Nagara style, three storeys, with work still finishing around it. Phones and bags are not allowed in, so use the lockers before you join the queue.

Sabarimala

Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple

The hilltop forest shrine of Lord Ayyappa, reached by a trek from Pamba.

Mathura & Vrindavan

Prem Mandir

A vast white-marble temple in Vrindavan, floodlit in colour after dark, which is when everyone comes. Built by a modern sect rather than an old one, and it looks it.

Dwarka

Dwarkadhish Temple

The five-storey temple of Krishna as king, with its famous flag changed five times a day.

Shikharji (Parasnath)

Madhuban Temple Town

The base settlement of Jain temples and dharamshalas below the hill.

Uttar Pradesh

Ram Mandir

Ayodhya's newest temple complex stands on the ground where the Babri Masjid stood until a Hindu nationalist mob demolished it in 1992, and which many Hindus hold to be Ram Janmabhoomi, the birthplace of Rama. The Supreme Court awarded the disputed site for a temple in 2019 and gave Muslims land at Dhannipur, nearby in Ayodhya. Ground was broken in August 2020 and the temple was consecrated in January 2024. It is very new and it draws crowds. Come early, and read the history before you arrive rather than after.

Palitana (Shatrunjaya)

Shatrunjaya Temple City

A range of hills above Palitana carrying 865 Jain temples — not one temple with outbuildings but a city of them, built up along the ridge over centuries. Jain tradition holds the site was sanctified when Rishabha, the first Tirthankara, preached from the summit, and that Pundarik Swami, his grandson and chief Ganadhara, attained moksha here. It is among the holiest places in Jainism. Getting up means roughly 3,500 steps and there is no ropeway; pilgrims start before dawn, and nobody stays on the hill overnight, priests included.

Gandhinagar

Akshardham Temple Complex

A BAPS Swaminarayan temple complex of twenty-three acres, conceived by Yogiji Maharaj and built under Pramukh Swami Maharaj over thirteen years. The mandir at its centre uses six thousand tonnes of pink sandstone brought from Rajasthan. Akshardham is the abode of Swaminarayan, where followers hold the soul goes after liberation, which is what the complex is named for. On 24 September 2002 two Lashkar-e-Taiba gunmen attacked it and killed thirty-three worshippers; security has been heavy ever since, and phones, bags and cameras do not go past the gate.

Amararama (Amaravati)

Amareswara Temple

The principal Pancharama Shiva temple on the Krishna River.

Dakor

Ranchhodraiji Temple

Built in 1772 by a Maratha noble, with eight spires over a walled compound and a black stone Krishna inside. Full-moon days bring very large numbers on foot from the surrounding villages — avoid those unless that is what you came for.

Vaishno Devi (Katra)

Bhairon Nath Temple

A hilltop temple at 2,011 metres, and the last step of the yatra — the merit is not held to be complete until you have climbed to it.

Srikalahasti

Srikalahasti Temple

An ancient Shiva temple of the wind element, famed for its windless flickering lamp.

Puri (Jagannath Temple & Beach)

Shree Jagannath Temple

Twelfth century, with a spire around sixty-five metres high. Hindus only, and no phones or leather past the gate. The flag at the top is changed every day by a man who climbs the spire without ropes — worth waiting for, from outside if you cannot go in.

Telangana

Alampur Navabrahma Temples

The name misleads: nine temples called Nava-Brahma, every one of them dedicated to Shiva. The Badami Chalukyas cut them from rock between the seventh and ninth centuries, all east-facing and square in plan, and if the profiles look familiar it is because they belong to the same family as Pattadakal and Aihole. Hunt the friezes, which include early carved retellings of the Panchatantra fables alongside Shaiva, Vaishnava and Shakta themes. The temples were badly damaged and defaced after the 14th century and the Archaeological Survey has been restoring them since 1980, so expect repair work in the frame.

Telangana

Alampur Papanasi Temples

Twenty-three temples stand here, most of them ruined, and all of them moved, the cluster having been relocated to the southwest of Alampuram village rather than lost. They were completed between the 9th and 11th centuries by the Rashtrakutas and the later Chalukyas, in a square-plan Nagara style, and were destroyed during the invasions of the 14th and 15th centuries. The largest, Papanasisesvara, keeps its plain outer walls and a rangamandapa inside, dedicated to Shiva as the dancer. It is about a kilometre and a half from the Navabrahma group, so do both in one morning.

Uttar Pradesh

Alopi Devi (Lalita) Temple

Alopi Devi (Lalita) Temple in Prayagraj (Sangam), Uttar Pradesh is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the fingers of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Lalita (Madhaveshwari), and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Bhava. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Gujarat

Ambaji Temple (Gabbar Hill)

Ambaji Temple (Gabbar Hill) in Ambaji, Banaskantha, Gujarat is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the heart of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Amba (Ambika), and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Batuk Bhairava. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Rajasthan

Ambika Shakti Peeth

Ambika Shakti Peeth in Bharatpur, Rajasthan is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the toes of the left foot of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Ambika, and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Amriteshwar. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Jharkhand

Amreshwar Dham

Locals still call it Angrabari; the name Amreshwar Dham came later, given by the Shankaracharya Swami Swarupananda Saraswati. It is a Shiva complex on the Khunti-Torpa road, 45 km from Ranchi and nine from the district headquarters, with shrines to Ganesha, Rama, Sita and Hanuman alongside the main one. On an ordinary day it makes an easy, unhurried stop on the way south. Through Sawan and on Maha Shivaratri the Shiva crowd fills it, and unhurried is the last word you would use.

Punjab

Amritsar (Golden Temple)

The Golden Temple sits lower than the ground around it, and you walk down steps to reach the water. That is deliberate: nearly every other temple in India makes you climb up to it. It has four doors, one on each side, for the same reason — the building is meant to be entered from any direction, by anyone. Head covered, shoes off, feet through the water channel at the entrance, and nobody will ask you anything else. The langar behind the complex feeds on the order of a hundred thousand people a day, more at weekends, on donated food and volunteer labour. The dish hall takes anyone who turns up to help, and half an hour in it tells you more about the place than any guidebook. The Akal Takht faces the sanctum across the water. It is the seat of temporal authority in Sikhism, and those two buildings looking at each other across a pool is the whole argument of the faith in one view.

West Bengal

Attahas Temple

Attahas, at Labhpur in Birbhum, West Bengal, is one seat on the Shakti Peetha circuit — the one where tradition places Sati's lips, and where the Goddess is worshipped as Phullara with Vishwesh as her Bhairava. What you come to see is a large stone in the shape of a lip, out under a tree rather than inside a built sanctum.

West Bengal

Bahula Temple

Bahula is usually reached on a drive rather than sought out on its own — one stop on the Bengal Peetha circuit that pilgrims cover in two or three days. The temple itself is small and rural, at Ketugram on the Ajay river in Purba Bardhaman, West Bengal. The Goddess here is worshipped as Bahula and her Bhairava is Bhiruk; tradition assigns this seat the left arm of Sati.

Jharkhand

Baidyanath Dham (Jaya Durga)

Baidyanath Dham (Jaya Durga) in Deoghar, Jharkhand is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the heart of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Jaya Durga, and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Vaidyanath. It is counted among the eighteen Ashtadasha Maha Shakti Peethas — the most revered of all the seats of the Goddess. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Himachal Pradesh

Bajreshwari Mata Temple (Kangra)

Bajreshwari Mata Temple (Kangra) in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the left breast of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Jayadurga (Bajreshwari), and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Abhiru (Abhirunatheshwar). Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

West Bengal

Bakreshwar Temple

In Birbhum, West Bengal, the hot springs at Bakreshwar draw as many people as the temple does. There are several, each at a different temperature, with bathing tanks built around them, and the hottest is too hot to sit in. The temple itself is a Shakti Peetha; the Goddess is worshipped here as Mahishmardini, and her Bhairava as Vakranath. Give the springs as much of your time as you give the darshan.

Chhattisgarh

Bambleshwari Temple

Two temples, and it helps to know which is which before you arrive. Badi Bambleshwari stands on a hilltop of 1,600 feet; Chhotti Bambleshwari sits at ground level about half a kilometre from the main complex, and is the easier of the two if a climb is a question. Lakhs of people come during the Navratris, Kavar around Dusshera and Chaitra around Ram Navami, and the Jyoti Kalash lamps are lit then, which is both the best and the worst time to be here depending on whether you came for the crowd or in spite of it.

West Bengal

Bargabhima Temple

The Bargabhima Temple stands at Tamluk in Purba Medinipur, on the bank of the Roopnarayan, and is counted among the 51 Shaktipeeths, the one known as Vibhash. It is dedicated to the goddess Sati and called Bhimakali Mandir locally. The Tamluk Raj family built it, which is the useful thing to know before you arrive: this was their seat, and the temple is what survives of that. It is an ancient working shrine rather than a monument with a ticket counter, so come early and let the queue of worshippers move past you.

Madhya Pradesh

Bateshwar Hindu temples, Madhya Pradesh

Nearly 200 small sandstone temples fill a 25-acre slope in the Chambal ravines, about 35 kilometres north of Gwalior and 30 east of Morena, dedicated between them to Shiva, Vishnu and Shakti. They went up between the 8th and 10th centuries in post-Gupta and early Gurjara-Pratihara style, and most of what stands today was reassembled from fallen stone by the Archaeological Survey of India in a project started in 2005, helped, improbably, by the dacoit Nirbhay Singh Gujjar and his gang. Each temple is modest; the number of them is the effect. The largest, the Bhuteshvar Temple to Shiva, probably gave the site its name.

Uttar Pradesh

Belha Devi Temple

Bela Pratapgarh takes its name from the goddess inside this temple: Belha Bhavani, the town's patron and a local form of the Devi. The shrine sits on the bank of the Sai river and works as a living centre of Shakti worship rather than a monument to be looked at. The building itself is only about two hundred years old, though the tradition it carries in this part of northern India is a great deal older. Worth half an hour if you are already in Pratapgarh district, and not a reason to make the journey on its own.

West Bengal

Belur Math

Belur Math, headquarters of the Ramakrishna Mission on the Hooghly's west bank, was consecrated by Swami Vivekananda in 1899. Its main temple is a deliberate symphony of faiths — a facade that reads as temple, church and mosque depending on where you stand — enshrining Sri Ramakrishna's relics. The riverside campus of lawns and shrines to Holy Mother Sarada Devi and Vivekananda breathes an orderly, universal calm unlike anywhere else in Kolkata.

Bhabanipur (Aparna) Temple

Aparna is the name the Goddess carries at Bhabanipur, and Vaman is the Bhairava who guards her; the relic tradition assigns here is Sati's left anklet. The temple stands in Bogra district in northern Bangladesh, on the old Karatoya river, and it is kept better and signposted more clearly than several of the other Bangladesh Peethas.

Haryana

Bhadrakali Temple (Kurukshetra)

Bhadrakali Temple (Kurukshetra) in Thanesar, Kurukshetra, Haryana is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the ankle bone of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Savitri (Bhadrakali), and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Sthanu. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Andhra Pradesh

Bhavanarayana Temple, Sarpavaram

Inscriptions are the reason to slow down here. The earliest is dated 1073 CE, which tells you the temple was already standing by then, and the run of later ones records the repairs and rebuilds that successive rulers paid for. What you are looking at, in other words, is a Vishnu temple assembled over centuries rather than built in one go. The 15th-century Telugu poet Srinatha wrote it into Kasi Khandamu and Bhimeswara Puranam. It is a protected monument about 5 km out of Kakinada, and a short visit unless you can read the stone.

Assam

Bhimeswar Dham

Much of the reason to come is the walk up, past hills, streams and bamboo groves along the road, with a Ganesha temple halfway. At the end of it there is no temple building at all, only a hill stream running continuously over a linga on Dakini hill, beside Deepor Beel. Devotees hold this to be the Bhimashankar Jyotirlinga, where Shiva took form to destroy the demon Bhimasura; the Bhimashankar near Pune claims the same, and the argument is old and unsettled. Go for the setting and the water rather than the certainty.

Chhattisgarh

Bhoramdeo Temple

Bhoramdeo, wrapped in the forested Maikal hills, is called the 'Khajuraho of Chhattisgarh' — an 11th-century Shiva temple of the Nagvanshi kings whose walls carry tier upon tier of sculpted musicians, dancers, deities and frankly amorous couples. The sanctum's dark stone Shiva sits behind a hall of carved pillars, and two earlier brick temples and a sculpture-filled lawn complete the complex beside a lotus pond.

Andhra Pradesh

Bhramaramba (Mallikarjuna) Temple

Bhramaramba (Mallikarjuna) Temple in Srisailam, Andhra Pradesh is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the neck of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Bhramaramba (Mahalakshmi), and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Mallikarjuna (Sambaranand). It is counted among the eighteen Ashtadasha Maha Shakti Peethas — the most revered of all the seats of the Goddess. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

West Bengal

Bhramari Devi (Jalpesh) Temple

A Jora Banyan stands in the Bhramari Devi temple at Jalpaiguri, up in north Bengal, and the shrine is counted among the Shakti Peethas. The Jalpesh temple beside it has its sanctum sunk below ground level, so the monsoon fills it and it is worshipped flooded. Plan the visit with the Dooars rather than with the Kolkata Peethas.

Tripura

Bhubaneswari Temple

Tagore wrote about this one, which is most of why anyone makes the 55 km run out from Agartala to Rajnagar. The temple is believed to date from between 1660 and 1675, and it stands next to the palace Govinda Manikya built, so the two read as a single site rather than two stops. Come knowing that the literary association is doing much of the lifting here; if Tagore means nothing to you this is a modest visit, and you would want to pair it with something else in the south of the state.

Odisha

Biraja (Girija) Temple

Biraja (Girija) Temple in Jajpur, Odisha is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the navel of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Vimala (Biraja), and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Jagannath (Varaha). Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Karnataka

Chamundeshwari Temple

Chamundeshwari Temple in Mysuru, Karnataka is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the hair of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Chamundeshwari (Krouncha). Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Uttarakhand

Chandi Devi Temple, Haridwar

Chandi Devi stands on Neel Parvat, the eastern summit of the Sivalik hills at the southern edge of the Himalaya, above Haridwar. The building dates to 1929, put up by Suchat Singh during his reign as king of Kashmir, but the murti inside is held to be far older: installed in the eighth century by Adi Shankaracharya. The temple, also called Neel Parvat Teerth, is one of Haridwar's Panch Tirth and one of its three Siddh Peethas, with Mansa Devi and Maya Devi. Taking all three makes more sense than singling out one.

Haryana

Chandi Mandir

Chandigarh took its name from this temple rather than the other way round, which is the fact worth carrying up the highway with you. The shrine is dedicated to Chandi, the goddess of power, and stands on NH-5 between Chandigarh and Kalka, in Panchkula, about 15 km out of the city with the Shivalik hills behind it. Mansa Devi is 10 km away, so do the two in one morning rather than on two separate trips. Start early. This is a temple on a busy national highway, and the quiet belongs to the first hour.

Tripura

Chaturdasha Temple

The dome is the reason to come: it copies the roofline of a Tripuri village hut, then carries a stupa-like structure on top, which is about as clear a picture of the state's mixed religious history as any single building gives you. Krishna Manikya built it in 1760, the year Agartala became the capital, in honour of the fourteen deities known together as the Chaturdasha Devata. Devotees come for the kharchi festival. The temple and the surrounding capital complex have been under refurbishment since May 2023, so check what is open before you plan a day around it.

Telangana

Chaya Someswara Temple

A single shadow lies on the lingam all day, whatever the sun is doing, and the architect put it there deliberately — the pillars of the ardhamandapa and the gaps around the central shrine were set to cast it. Chaya is Telugu for shadow, hence the name. Behind the trick is a serious three-shrine temple of the mid-11th century, built by the Kunduru Chodas, its sanctums to Shiva, Vishnu and Surya sharing one hall of carved pillars retelling the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. It was in ruins in the mid-20th century and is only partly restored now. Crowded at Maha Shivaratri; Pachala Someshwara is next door.

Jharkhand

Chhinnamasta Temple, Rajrappa

Rajrappa's shrine to Chhinnamasta pulls devotees from every part of Jharkhand, and across the borders from Bihar and West Bengal too, which tells you most of what to expect on a weekend. The draw for anyone not here to pray is the Tantric style of the architecture, which reads quite unlike the temples most visitors already know. Ten smaller temples stand around the main one, to Surya, Hanuman and Shiva among others. It is in Ramgarh district. Go on a weekday morning and you get the place at a pace where you can actually look at it.

Tamil Nadu

Chidambaram (Nataraja Temple)

Chidambaram is an ancient pilgrimage town near the coastal plains of Cuddalore district in Tamil Nadu, and the reason to come is the Thillai Nataraja Temple. It covers several acres and is dedicated to Lord Shiva in his distinctive cosmic dance posture — Nataraja, the Lord of Dance. Four massive gopuram gateways, every inch of them covered in sculpture, mark the entrances; inside are a grand sacred tank and the Kanaka Sabha, the central inner sanctum, roofed in pure gold plate fixed down with exactly 72,000 copper nails. The temple is run by the Dikshitars, a closed hereditary community of married priests.

Himachal Pradesh

Chinnamastika Temple (Chintpurni)

Chinnamastika Temple (Chintpurni) in Chintpurni, Himachal Pradesh is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the feet of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Chhinnamastika, and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Rudra Mahadeva. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Kerala

Chottanikkara Temple

Chottanikkara Bhagavathy, on Kochi's green edge, is one of Kerala's most powerful goddess temples — the Devi worshipped as Saraswati at dawn, Lakshmi at noon and Durga at dusk. The temple is famed across the South for healing afflictions of the mind; at the lower Kizhukkavu shrine, the guardian Bhadrakali's ancient paala tree bristles with nails driven in as spirits are exorcised at the wrenching Guruthi Pooja each night.

Dakshayani (Manasa) Temple

Dakshayani (Manasa) Temple in Lake Manasarovar, Mount Kailash, China (Tibet) is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the right hand of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Dakshayani, and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Amar. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

West Bengal

Dakshineswar Kali Temple

Dakshineswar, on the Hooghly north of Kolkata, is the great navaratna (nine-spired) temple of Bhavatarini Kali built by Rani Rashmoni in 1855 — and the temple where Sri Ramakrishna served as priest, had his God-intoxicated visions, and drew the world to Kali's feet. His room in the courtyard's corner is preserved as he left it; twelve Shiva temples line the riverfront, and ferries cross to Belur Math on the far bank.

Chhattisgarh

Danteshwari Temple

Danteshwari Temple in Dantewada (Bastar), Chhattisgarh is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the tooth of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Danteshwari, and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Kapalabhairava. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Jharkhand

Deoghar (Baidyanath Dham)

Deoghar, the 'abode of the gods', is home to the Baidyanath Jyotirlinga, one of the twelve sacred Jyotirlingas of Shiva. During the monsoon month of Shravan, millions of saffron-clad kanwariyas walk over 100 km carrying Ganga water from Sultanganj to offer at the temple — one of India's largest pilgrim movements.

Punjab

Devi Talab Mandir (Tripuramalini)

In Jalandhar the temple is built around its own water tank, the devi talab it is named for, which sits in the middle of the complex with a model of the Amarnath cave beside it. The Goddess here is worshipped as Tripuramalini and her Bhairava as Bhishana. Look for the carved wooden door. Every December the adjoining grounds are given over to the Harballabh classical music festival, one of the oldest music gatherings in India.

Chhattisgarh

Dhumnath Temple

The village has grown right into this one: houses lean against the hall and ante-chamber, and the eastern wall of the sanctum now doubles as somebody's courtyard wall. What survives is a Bhumija temple from the Kalachuri period, with a curvilinear Nagara shikhara that has lost its crowning amalaka. The exterior reliefs are the reason to make the detour: Brahma, Chamunda and Mahishasuramardini on the right wall, Shiva-Parvati, Ganesha and Kartikeya on the left, and frankly erotic panels drawn from the Kama Sutra alongside them. The doorway sits about five feet up, three steps to reach it, then six steps down into a shrine below ground level.

Rajasthan

Dilwara Temples (Mount Abu)

The Dilwara Temples at Mount Abu are a group of five exquisite Jain temples built between the 11th and 13th centuries, known for marble carving cut so thin that the ceilings pass light — ceilings, pillars and panels worked into lace-like detail considered unsurpassed in India.

Nagaland

Dimapur Jain Temple

Built in 1947 on Jain Temple Road, this is Dimapur's Jain temple, with Mahavira as its moolnayak, the primary deity the whole building is arranged around. The SD Jain Samaj Dimapur looks after it. It is a working neighbourhood temple rather than a monument, so keep the visit brief and quiet, and ask before photographing anything inside.

Chhattisgarh

Dongargarh (Bamleshwari Temple)

At Dongargarh the goddess Bamleshwari watches from a 1,600-step hilltop — the Badi (elder) Bamleshwari — while her sister shrine, Chhoti Bamleshwari, stands in the town below. The temple is Chhattisgarh's busiest pilgrimage, its twin Navratri fairs drawing lakhs of devotees who climb through the night as the hill glows with lamps. A ropeway now glides over the boulders for those who skip the stairs.

Punjab

Durgiana Temple

Amritsar's other temple on a tank, and the likeness to the Golden Temple is close enough to catch people out: a similar silhouette, a different faith. Durga presides here, with Lakshmi and Vishnu also worshipped. The 1921 date usually quoted is a rebuild rather than a founding, since the district gazetteer of 1893 already describes the Durgiana Sarovar and the shrine beside it. A short visit does it, and it is quieter than the place it resembles.

Gujarat

Girnar (Jain Temples)

Girnar, a sacred volcanic massif near Junagadh, is a major pilgrimage for both Jains and Hindus. The arduous climb of roughly 10,000 steps passes a walled cluster of medieval Jain temples partway up, before continuing to Hindu shrines at the higher summits — a full day's climb, and one of the hardest pilgrimages in Gujarat.

Guhyeshwari Temple

Guhyeshwari sits beside Pashupatinath in Kathmandu, and most people see the two on one visit rather than making a separate trip for it. Nepal asks no visa of Indian citizens, so this and Muktinath are the two Shakti Peethas outside India that take the least arranging. The Goddess here is worshipped as Mahamaya, also called Mahashira, and Kapali is the Bhairava who guards her.

Kerala

Guruvayur (Sri Krishna Temple)

Guruvayur is a temple town in Kerala centred on the revered Sri Krishna (Guruvayurappan) Temple, often called the Dwarka of the South. The deity is worshipped as the young Krishna, and the shrine is one of the busiest Vaishnava pilgrimage centres in India, famed for its strict rituals, temple elephants and devotional music.

West Bengal

Hangseshwari Temple

Thirteen ratnas rise from the roof, each built as a lotus bud, and the plan inside is said to follow human anatomy — the whole building is a tantric diagram, Satchakrabhed, worked in brick. Raja Nrisinhadeb Roy Mahasay laid the foundation in December 1799 and died before it was done, the second storey up in 1802; his second wife, Rani Sankari, finished the rest in 1814. The deity is Hangseswari, a form of Kali. Two more temples are within reach — Ananta Basudeba in the same complex, and the Swanbhaba Kali of 1788 — so allow more than a quick stop. Bansberia around it is an industrial town.

Madhya Pradesh

Harsiddhi (Avanti) Temple

Harsiddhi (Avanti) Temple in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the upper lip / elbow of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Mahakali (Avanti), and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Lambakarna. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Assam

Hayagriva Madhava Temple

The lamps in the sanctum are never allowed to go out; oil feeds into the big earthen bowls through a tube run from a tin, a plain arrangement holding up an old promise. The temple sits on Manikut hill at Hajo, around 30 km west of Guwahati. Look low before you look up. A continuous row of carved elephants runs along the base of the walls, closer to Ellora's stone-cut work than to anything nearby, and above them are the ten incarnations of Vishnu, devotees in procession and episodes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Doul, Bihu and Janmastami are the crowded days.

Jammu & Kashmir

Hazratbal Shrine (Srinagar)

The Hazratbal Shrine, set on the western shore of Srinagar's Dal Lake, is Kashmir's holiest Muslim shrine, revered for housing a relic believed to be a hair of Prophet Muhammad. Its gleaming white marble dome against the lake and mountains makes it both a sacred site and a scenic landmark.

Hinglaj Mata Temple

Hinglaj Mata Temple in Hingol (Balochistan), Pakistan is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the brahmarandhra (crown of the head) of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Hinglaj (Kottari), and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Bhimalochana. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Karnataka

ISKCON Temple

ISKCON Sri Radha Krishna Temple in Rajajinagar is one of the largest ISKCON temples in the world, a striking blend of modern glass-and-steel architecture with traditional gopuram-topped shrines. Opened in 1997 on Hare Krishna Hill, it is a major centre for Krishna devotion, cultural programmes and prasadam distribution in Bengaluru.

Jharkhand

Jagannath Temple, Ranchi

You can walk up the staircase or drive the motorable path; either way this 17th-century temple stands on a hillock about 10 km out of central Ranchi. It is built in the Kalinga style and looks like the Jagannath temple at Puri shrunk down, which is the honest description of it: the interest lies in the resemblance rather than the scale. The one time it fills is the Rath Yatra in Aashaadha, when the chariot festival and the fair pull thousands of tribal and non-tribal devotees from the city and the villages around.

Meghalaya

Jayanti (Nartiang Durga) Temple

Jayanti (Nartiang Durga) Temple in Nartiang, Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the left thigh of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Jayanti (Nartiang Durga), and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Kramadishwar. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Jeshoreshwari Kali Temple

The Goddess here is Jeshoreshwari, and the temple that carries her name stands at Ishwaripur in Satkhira — in Bangladesh, near the Bangladeshi side of the Sundarbans. Indians get a straightforward visa, and because several Peethas sit within a few days of each other on that side of the border, this one is worth planning into a single trip rather than a crossing made for it alone.

Telangana

Jogulamba Temple

Jogulamba Temple in Alampur, Telangana is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the upper teeth of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Jogulamba (Yogini), and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Bala Brahmeshwar. It is counted among the eighteen Ashtadasha Maha Shakti Peethas — the most revered of all the seats of the Goddess. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Himachal Pradesh

Jwalamukhi (Jwala Ji) Temple

Jwalamukhi (Jwala Ji) Temple in Jwalamukhi, Kangra, Himachal Pradesh is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the tongue of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Siddhida (Ambika/Jwalamukhi), and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Unmatta Bhairava. It is counted among the eighteen Ashtadasha Maha Shakti Peethas — the most revered of all the seats of the Goddess. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

West Bengal

Kalighat Kali Temple

Kalighat Kali Temple in Kolkata, West Bengal is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the toes of the right foot of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Kalika, and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Nakuleshwar. It is counted among the eighteen Ashtadasha Maha Shakti Peethas — the most revered of all the seats of the Goddess. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Assam

Kamakhya Temple

Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati, Assam is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the yoni (womb) of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Kamakhya, and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Umananda. It is counted among the eighteen Ashtadasha Maha Shakti Peethas — the most revered of all the seats of the Goddess. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Tamil Nadu

Kamakshi Amman Temple

Kamakshi Amman Temple in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the navel / back of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Devagarbha (Kamakshi), and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Ruru. It is counted among the eighteen Ashtadasha Maha Shakti Peethas — the most revered of all the seats of the Goddess. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Puducherry

Kameeswarar temple

Villianur's temple answers to three names — Thirukameeswarar, Kokilamba-Kameeswarar, or simply the Villianur temple — and covers two acres behind concentric rectangular walls. Shiva is worshipped here as Kameeswarar in the form of a lingam, with Kokilamba Amman and Ranganathar holding the other two prominent shrines. The Cholas are believed to have built the original, and later dynasties kept adding to it. Rituals run six times a day between six in the morning and half past eight at night, so there is no wrong hour to arrive. The crowds come for Brahmotsavam in the Tamil month of Aadi, July into August.

West Bengal

Kankalitala Temple

Kankalitala Temple in Bolpur, Birbhum, West Bengal is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the pelvis (waist) of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Devgarbha, and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Ruru. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Puducherry

Karaikal Ammaiyar Temple

Unusually, the temple is not for a god but for a devotee: Punithavathi, the Shaivite saint and Nayanmar remembered as Karaikal Ammaiyar, the revered mother of Karaikal. That dedication is the whole reason to go, and it is worth knowing before you walk in or the place will seem like any other. It stands in the middle of the city on Bharathiar Street, which the French called the Rue de Porear, so it folds easily into anything else you are doing in Karaikal.

Rajasthan

Karni Mata Temple

Karni Mata Temple, also called Madh, is the one known well beyond Rajasthan as the Temple of Rats, and the name is meant literally. It stands in Deshnoke, a small town 30 km south of Bikaner. Twenty thousand or more rats, the kaba, live throughout the complex and are cared for as kin, with bowls of milk set out for them around the temple. Anyone who kills one, even by accident, must replace it with a rat made of gold. The temple's story is that Karni Mata's stepson Lakshman drowned in Kapil Sarovar at Kolayat, and that she went to Yamraj, the god of death, to ask for him back. In the story, Yamraj gave way, and since then her Charan lineage have been reborn as kaba in her temple rather than going to him. A few white rats are held to be Karni Mata and her family. Seeing one counts as a blessing. She is worshipped as an incarnation of Hinglaj or Durga, and the Rajputs and Charans of northwestern India hold her as their tutelary deity; at Navratri her pilgrims come mainly from Rajasthan and Gujarat. You go in through a marble front and solid silver doors whose panels tell her legends. The sanctum itself you see from outside: its floor is worked in crisscross patterns, and a 75 cm image of the goddess holds a trident and wears a mukut and garlands. Images of her sisters flank it. The temple is open from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day, with no entry fee.

Haryana

Kartikeya Temple, Pehowa

One of the oldest Kartikeya temples in North India, in the township of Pehowa. The deity is worshipped the length of the country under a long list of names — Murugan, Skanda, Shanmukha the six-faced, Kumara the child — and the Kushanas and the Yaudheyas both struck coins bearing his image, as the Ikshvakus and the Guptas honoured him. What you arrive at is a living shrine rather than a monument to photograph, so expect worship rather than sightseeing, and dress for it.

Uttar Pradesh

Katyayani (Uma Shakti) Temple

Katyayani (Uma Shakti) Temple in Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the ringlets of hair of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Uma (Katyayani), and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Bhuteshwar. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Rajasthan

Khatu Shyam Temple

Khatu is a small town in Sikar district, 80 km by road from Jaipur, and what is worshipped in its temple is a head, an idol in stone. In the legend behind it, Barbareek, a grandson of Bhima, gave his head to Krishna before the Kurukshetra war and was promised worship as Shyam in the Kaliyug. The head, the story goes, was found when a cow's udders spilled milk over the spot at Khatu where it lay buried, and villagers dug it out at the place said to be the Shyam Kund, a holy pond near the temple. The temple is white marble. Its prayer hall, the Jagmohan, has walls painted with scenes from the myths, and the sanctum's shutters are sheathed in silver. Five aartis mark the day, the first before 6 am and the last at 9 pm or later. Check the lunar calendar as well as the month. The Falgun (Lakkhi) Mela, in February or March, builds to Shukla Ekadashi, and in 2026 cameras on the approach path counted 4.10 lakh people by the evening of its third day. Come for the mela if the crowd is what you want. Beyond it, the temple marks each lunar month's Shukla Ekadashi, Dwadashi and Amavasya as special days, and days held sacred to Shyam are when pilgrims come from far beyond Rajasthan. For a shorter queue, pick a day that is none of these, and do not expect an empty temple even then.

Sikkim

Kirateshwar Mahadev Temple

A Shiva temple at Legship in Gyalshing district, standing along the banks of the River Rangeet. Several episodes of the Mahabharata are attached to the spot, and that is what makes it a pilgrimage site rather than another village shrine. The Kirati people call it Kirateshwar Mahadev Thaan; most others simply say Shiv Mandir. The river does as much work here as the building, so do not rush it: walk down to the water, then come back up to the shrine. Go early if you want it quiet.

West Bengal

Kiriteswari Temple

Kiriteswari Temple in Murshidabad, West Bengal is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the crown (kirita) of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Vimala (Kiriteswari), and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Sanvart. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Andhra Pradesh

Kodandarama Temple, Vontimitta

Twenty-five kilometres out of Kadapa, near Rajampet, stands one of the finest surviving pieces of Vijayanagara building in Rayalaseema: a 16th-century Rama temple with carved mandapas, monumental gopurams and stone sculpture worked across the complex. It is protected as a monument of national importance and serves as the state's official venue for the Sita Rama Kalyanam at Sri Rama Navami, which is the one time to expect real crowds. Tens of thousands of pilgrims pass through in a year, but on an ordinary morning there is room to stand and look properly. Best folded into a Tirupati trip.

Tamil Nadu

Kumari Amman Temple

Kumari Amman Temple in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the back of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Sarvani (Kanyakumari), and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Nimish. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Tripura

Lakshmi Narayan Temple, Agartala

A temple to the divine couple Lakshmi Narayana, standing in the Ujjayanta Palace grounds in Agartala and founded by Birendra Kishore Manikya during his reign between 1909 and 1923. It is not a trip in itself — it is one of the things you come across once you are inside the palace grounds, and it earns the few minutes it takes. Treat the grounds as the outing and this as one part of them.

Odisha

Lingaraja Temple

Of all the old stone in Bhubaneswar, this is the piece still fully in use: Lingaraja is active in worship where most of the city's temples are not, and that changes what a visit feels like. It is the largest temple here, its central tower 180 ft, and the clearest statement of Kalinga building anywhere in the city, with four parts, vimana, jagamohana, natamandira and bhoga-mandapa, stepped in height. The compound wall encloses 108 further shrines. Look for the images of Vishnu inside a Shiva temple, a trace of the Ganga rulers who added to what the Somavamsi kings began.

Odisha

Lokanatha Siva Temple

For years this one had no visible door: earth had piled against every side up to the bandhana, which is how it got the name Amuha deula, the temple with no entrance. Debala Mitra dug out the north wall in 1972 and found the way in. The sanctum was empty, and the dedication to Shiva rests on local tradition and the carving on the outer walls. It is an 11th-century miniature of Lingaraja, which stands across the road. It is also abandoned and crumbling, still buried on the other three sides. Ten minutes, if you are already at Lingaraja.

Jharkhand

Maa Dewri Temple

Sixty kilometres out of Ranchi, on the right of the Tata road as you near Tamar, a two-acre compound holds a 700-year-old image of a sixteen-armed village goddess. The old stonework was interlocked without chalk or any binding material, and the earlier name, Dewri Diri, meant simply the sacred stone of Diuri village. What makes it unusual is who conducts the worship: tribal Pahans for six days, a Brahmin Panda for one. Bamboo poles carry yellow and red threads, tied for a wish and untied when it is granted.

Madhya Pradesh

Maa Sharda Mandir (Maihar)

Maa Sharda Mandir (Maihar) in Maihar, Madhya Pradesh is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the necklace of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Sharada (Shivani), and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Chanda Bhairava. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Tamil Nadu

Madurai (Meenakshi Amman Temple)

The Meenakshi Amman Temple stands at the heart of Madurai, an ancient city on the banks of the Vaigai River, and it is the great Dravidian temple complex of South India. It is dedicated to the Goddess Meenakshi, a powerful form of Parvati, and her consort Sundareswarar, a form of Shiva. Massive high stone walls enclose it, and 14 towering gopurams rise above them, each one carpeted with thousands of brightly painted stone sculptures of deities, demons and celestial beings. Inside are the grand columned assembly halls, the legendary Hall of a Thousand Pillars among them, and the sacred golden lotus pond, where millions of devotees perform their rituals each year.

Assam

Mahabhairav Temple

A hillock at the northern edge of Tezpur carries this Shiva temple, and the building you will see is concrete: the old stone one, credited to king Bana, went in a renovation, so come for the site and its life rather than the architecture. Two things stay with people. The prasad is laddu laced with bhang, milk and spices, and pigeons are released here as a way of freeing ancestors' spirits. Maha Shivaratri draws devotees from far and wide; if queueing is not your idea of a temple visit, come on any other day.

Bihar

Mahabodhi Temple

Buddhists have been coming to this spot for over two thousand years. It marks where the Buddha is said to have reached enlightenment, and it remains the most revered pilgrimage site in the Buddhist world; the tree here is held to descend from the original Bodhi Tree. Most of what stands is 6th-century CE work, brick under stucco, heavily restored since the 19th century. The carved stone railing is replica and the finest early sculpture has moved to the museum beside the temple, so do that too. The Vajrasana inside dates to the 3rd century BCE.

Chhattisgarh

Mahadev Temple, Deobaloda

Most of the year this is a quiet Kalachuri-period Shiva temple in a village, protected as a monument by the Archaeological Survey of India. Mahashivratri is the exception: devotees from the villages around converge on it, and a small fair sets up alongside. Pick your day according to what you came for. If it is the stonework, come on any other day and you will have room to look at it properly. If you would rather see the temple doing the job it was built for, that is the one day it is full.

Odisha

Mahakala-Mahakali Temple

You look down into this one. There is no superstructure and no roof, only stone walls open to the sky, with the lingam set four metres below the present ground level. A second, smaller lingam beside it is called Mahakali to the central Mahakala, and local tradition makes the two of them the parents of Lingaraja, whose eastern compound wall is right there. Eleventh century, on the road running towards Hatasahi. A two-minute stop, and a strange one, but worth making if you are walking Old Town properly.

Gujarat

Mahakali Temple (Pavagadh)

Mahakali Temple (Pavagadh) in Pavagadh, Panchmahal, Gujarat is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the right toe of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Mahakali, and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Batuk Bhairava. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Maharashtra

Mahalakshmi (Ambabai) Temple

Mahalakshmi (Ambabai) Temple in Kolhapur, Maharashtra is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the eyes of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Mahalakshmi, and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Krodhish. It is counted among the eighteen Ashtadasha Maha Shakti Peethas — the most revered of all the seats of the Goddess. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Mahalakshmi (Sri Shail) Temple

Mahalakshmi (Sri Shail) Temple in Gotatikar, Sylhet, Bangladesh is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the neck of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Mahalakshmi, and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Sambaranand. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Assam

Mahamaya Dham

Go in knowing what happens here. Lower Assam's biggest Shakta shrine after Kamakhya keeps a four-century tradition of animal sacrifice, and at Durga Puja hundreds of buffaloes, goats, pigeons and ducks are killed; there is a growing campaign against it, and if that is not something you want to witness, choose another week. The goddess was worshipped first by local Kachari, Koch and Nath families and by the zamindar of Parvatjowar before Hindus across the region took her up. A few kilometres away the Snaanghat temple sits on the bank of the Tipkai, where she is said to have bathed. Bogribari is about 30 km east of Dhubri.

Chhattisgarh

Mahamaya Temple, Raipur

Purani Basti is the old quarter of Raipur, and the Mahamaya temple stands inside it, counted among the thirty-six Shaktipeeths, or thirty-six forts, of Chhattisgarh. Maratha rulers renovated it across the 17th and 18th centuries, so what you are looking at is a layered building rather than one clean period. This is a city temple in a dense old neighbourhood: park once and walk the rest, and expect the streets around it to be as much of the visit as the shrine itself.

Goa

Mallikarjuna Temple, Goa

One of the oldest shrines in Goa stands in Sristhal village, 7 km northeast of Chaudi in Canacona taluka, in a valley closed in on all sides by mountains. A plaque near the dome dates the building to the middle of the 16th century; it was refurbished in 1778. The idol is one of the cylindrical wooden forms local people call Nirakar, formless, wearing a metallic mask and a trishula, and about fourteen Mallikarjun shrines across Goa share that shape. Some sixty deities are kept here. The annual jatra is the draw, and it is unlike most temple festivals in Goa.

Jharkhand

Maluti temples

Thirty-six of the original 108 have already gone; 72 terracotta temples still stand in this village near Shikaripara, on the eastern side of the Chota Nagpur Plateau. Kings of the Baj Basanta dynasty raised them between the 17th and 19th centuries in what was their capital, out of devotion to Mowlakshi, the family deity, though Shiva, Durga, Kali and Vishnu hold shrines here too. The Global Heritage Fund counts the site among the world's twelve most endangered and has proposed conservation work. That is the whole argument for going sooner rather than later.

Chhattisgarh

Mama Bhanja Temple

The name is a family relationship: mama is a mother's brother, bhanja is his nephew, and the story goes that the two of them were handed the job of building this and finished it in a single day. Make of that what you will. What stands at Barsur is a Shiva temple now maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India, and it is worth the stop if Barsur is already on your route rather than a journey made for its own sake.

Puducherry

Manakula Vinayagar Temple

This Ganesha temple predates the French, and it very nearly did not survive them. Under Dupleix there were attempts to pull it down, abandoned in the face of protest from the Hindu population and the risk of British and Maratha attack. That it is still standing is the story. It is a working pilgrimage site as much as a sight, and popular enough with visitors as well as devotees that the morning is the sane time to go; arrive at the wrong hour and you will be shuffling through in a queue rather than looking at anything.

Bihar

Mangala Gauri Temple

Mangala Gauri Temple in Gaya, Bihar is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the breast of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Sarvamangala (Mangala Gauri), and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Sarvananda. It is counted among the eighteen Ashtadasha Maha Shakti Peethas — the most revered of all the seats of the Goddess. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Goa

Mangeshi Temple

Shri Manguesh at Priol is the largest and most famous temple in Goa, home of Mangesh — a form of Shiva worshipped by generations of Goud Saraswat Brahmins, including the family of Lata Mangeshkar, who took their name from the deity. Its white seven-storey lamp tower is a Goan icon, rising from a compound of tiled courtyards, a temple tank and agrashalas, the whole ensemble in that unmistakable Goan temple style born of exile from the coastal talukas.

Rajasthan

Manibandh (Gayatri Temple)

Manibandh (Gayatri Temple) in Pushkar, Rajasthan is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the wrists of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Gayatri, and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Sarvananda. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Andhra Pradesh

Manikyamba (Bhimeswara) Temple

Manikyamba (Bhimeswara) Temple in Draksharamam, Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the left cheek of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Manikyamba, and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Bhimeshwar. It is counted among the eighteen Ashtadasha Maha Shakti Peethas — the most revered of all the seats of the Goddess. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Uttarakhand

Mansa Devi Temple, Haridwar

A hilltop shrine above Haridwar, on the Bilwa Parvat spur of the Sivalik Hills, and one of the five Panch Tirth a pilgrim in the city is meant to cover. The tree inside is what people remember: you tie a thread to a branch when you ask the goddess for something, and come back to untie it once the wish is granted, so the branches carry both halves of other people's bargains. Mansa means wish. Coconuts, fruit, garlands and incense go to the shrine. Go early if you want to hear yourself think.

Rajasthan

Mehandipur Balaji Temple

Mehandipur Balaji is a Hanuman temple in Dausa district, built between two Aravalli hills, and it is not a place to visit for its architecture. Mehandipur itself is small and, to one visiting writer, otherwise nondescript. What brings people is ritual healing and exorcism: they come, the trust that runs the temple says, to pray for relief from mental and physical suffering and from spirit affliction. Balaji, the child form of Hanuman, is worshipped here with Bhairav and Pretraj Sarkar. A paper published in 1981 described the vermilion Balaji on the ground floor, Bhairav as a stone slab with a carved eye in a small annexe, and Pretraj upstairs. What happens around them can be hard to watch. The paper described some patients going into a trance called peshi after the first offerings, some of them striking the walls and iron bars or laying heavy stones on their bodies. Its authors examined 100 patients, a sample of the sick rather than of every pilgrim, and 76 had a neurotic or psychotic diagnosis; about a quarter improved. The same visiting writer, in a 2018 piece for The Diplomat, found exorcisms in a dark hall next to the main temple, and people kept chained behind it, which he called inhuman. Do not assume that has stopped. The trust is plain about its own part: its priests give the sick no help, and devout darshan is enough.

Bihar

Mitheshwarnath Shiva Temple

A family temple, in the literal sense: Mitthu Mistri Thakur established it at Chunabhatti in Darbhanga district in March 1949, it carries his name, and his sons and their descendants have maintained it ever since he died in 1982. On an ordinary day a small number of local people come and that is all. The numbers rise for Maha Shivaratri, Shraavana, Naga Panchami and Kartik Purnima. This is not somewhere to travel for. If you are in Darbhanga on one of those days it is a real, used thing rather than a monument, which has its own value.

Punjab

Mukteshwar Mahadev Temple

A man-made cave complex on the Shahpur Kandi Dam road out of Pathankot, with a Shiva shrine at its heart and representations of Ganesha, Brahma, Vishnu, Hanuman and Parvati around it. Local belief puts the Pandavas here for a night of their exile and dates some of the caves to the Mahabharata; take that as devotion rather than archaeology. It is held to be among the most sacred places near Pathankot, and it is small. Fold it into the drive out to the dam rather than making a separate trip of it.

Bihar

Mundeshwari Temple

You will be told this is the oldest functioning Hindu temple in the world, dated to 108 CE by the ASI and the state religious trust board. Architectural historians disagree, putting the surviving stonework no earlier than the 6th or 7th century and the octagonal shrine itself possibly as late as the 16th or 17th, assembled from older pieces. Either way it has been in continuous use, which is the rarer claim. It stands at 185 m on the Kaimur plateau above the Son, so there is a climb involved. Shiva and Durga are both worshipped here.

Himachal Pradesh

Naina Devi Temple

Naina Devi Temple in Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the eyes of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Mahishamardini, and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Krodhish. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

West Bengal

Nalhateshwari Temple

Nalhateshwari Temple in Nalhati, Birbhum, West Bengal is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the throat (nala) of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Kalika (Nalateshwari), and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Yogesh. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Tamil Nadu

Narayani Temple (Suchindram)

Narayani Temple (Suchindram) in Suchindram, Tamil Nadu is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the upper teeth of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Narayani, and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Sanhar. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Madhya Pradesh

Narmada (Shondesh) Temple

Narmada (Shondesh) Temple in Amarkantak, Madhya Pradesh is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the right buttock of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Narmada (Shondesh), and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Bhadrasena. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Puducherry

Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine, Villianur

Not many parish churches carry a papal decree. Pope Leo XIII ordered the coronation of the Marian statue at Villianur in February 1886 and declared the site an official Marian shrine, and the Archbishop of Pondicherry, Francois-Jean-Marie Laouenan, performed the rite that May. The statue, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Lourdes, is what people come for. Unless Marian devotion is what brought you out here, it is a short stop rather than a reason to make the trip.

Kerala

Padmanabhaswamy Temple (Thiruvananthapuram)

Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram is a Vaishnava shrine where Lord Vishnu reclines on the serpent Anantha in the Anantha-shayanam posture. Blending Kerala and Dravidian styles with a towering seven-tier gopuram, it became world-famous when vast treasures were documented in its vaults, ranking it among the wealthiest temples on earth.

Jharkhand

Pahari Mandir

A Shiva linga sits at the top of this Ranchi hill, 350 feet above the ground, but it is not the only reason people climb. The British held the hill before independence and hanged freedom fighters on it; the old name Tiriburu gave way to Hanging Gallows. After 1947 a freedom fighter from Ranchi, K. C. Das, raised the tricolour here for the men who had died, and it still goes up on Independence Day and Republic Day beside the religious flags. Come on an ordinary morning, because Sawan and Shivaratri bring enormous crowds.

Manipur

Pakhangba Temple, Kangla

Coming in through the Kangla Sanathong, the fort's western gate, look left rather than straight ahead: beside the Nungseng Eekon stands the temple of Pakhangba, a god of Sanamahism, the traditional Meitei religion. Most visitors walk past it on the way to the citadel. It is small and it will not take long, but it is the piece that puts Kangla inside the Meitei religion rather than beside it, and the rest of the fort reads differently once you have seen it.

Tamil Nadu

Palani Murugan Temple

Palani's Dhandayuthapani Swamy — Murugan as the renunciate boy with staff and loincloth — watches from his hill shrine over one of Tamil Nadu's greatest pilgrimages. This is where the child god, losing the contest for the fruit of wisdom, stormed off declaring 'You yourself are the fruit' (Pazham Nee), and where the idol, by tradition, was shaped by siddha Bogar from nine poisonous minerals. Pilgrims climb the 690 steps, ride the winch trains, or carry kavadis in their lakhs at Thaipusam.

Odisha

Paradaresvara Siva Temple

What stands in the cella is a circular yonipitha and nothing else; the lingam is long gone, and people still worship at it, which tells you something about how these Old Town shrines survive. The sanctum floor measures about three square metres. Thirteenth century, Ganga period as far as the architecture lets anyone say, east-facing, inside the Gosagaresvar precinct on Ratha road. Vaital temple is 200 metres off and Lingaraja a kilometre east. See it on a walk between those two rather than as a stop in its own right.

Odisha

Parsurameswara Temple

Small, low, and about 40 ft to the top of its spire, this is nonetheless the best-preserved early temple in Odisha, which is why anyone serious about Kalinga architecture starts here rather than at Lingaraja. Built around 650 CE, it was the first to add a jagamohana in front of the sanctum; everything earlier was sanctum alone. It is also the first in Bhubaneswar to carry the Saptamatrikas, and there are Shakta figures all over a temple dedicated to Shiva. ASI keeps it and charges a ticket. Parashurashtami, its main festival, falls in June or July.

Madhya Pradesh

Pashupatinath Temple, Mandsaur

The linga here has eight faces, and that is the reason to make the detour. The temple stands on the Shivna River at Mandsaur, near the Rajasthan border in Malwa, about 200 kilometres from Indore. Its sculpture is dated by inscriptions to the 5th or 6th century, but the site was already drawing pilgrims in the 2nd century CE, when it was called Dashapura and Kalidasa wrote about its women. Ten inscriptions found in the area, nine of them Sanskrit poems mostly dated between 404 and 487 CE, are why scholars use this place to date sites as distant as the Elephanta Caves.

Jharkhand

Pathrol Kali Temple, Madhupur

Raja Digvijay Singh built this Kali shrine six or seven centuries ago, and it is still among the oldest temples around Madhupur, roughly 7 km from the town. Nine smaller temples stand close to the main one. Worship runs every day of the week and includes animal sacrifice, which is worth knowing before you bring children or a squeamish friend. The annual fair falls in Kartik, October or November, and draws thousands: good if you want the stalls and the noise, bad if you came for a quiet hour.

Odisha

Puri (Jagannath Temple & Beach)

Puri is an ancient holy city on the Bay of Bengal coast in Odisha, and one of the four Char Dham pilgrimage towns. Everything here turns on the 12th-century Shree Jagannath Temple, whose deities — Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra — are carved in wood rather than stone, a form found nowhere else. The city runs from the crowded Grand Road, thick with pilgrims, down to the wide sand of Puri Beach. The temple's ancient rituals set the rhythm of the place, and in mid-summer the whole city gives itself over to the historic Rath Yatra chariot festival, which draws crowds from around the world.

Andhra Pradesh

Puruhutika (Kukkuteswara) Temple

Puruhutika (Kukkuteswara) Temple in Pithapuram, Andhra Pradesh is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the back / hip of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Puruhutika, and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Durvaseshwar. It is counted among the eighteen Ashtadasha Maha Shakti Peethas — the most revered of all the seats of the Goddess. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Odisha

Purvesvara Siva Temple

Named for where it sits: 300 metres east of Lingaraja, which makes it Purvesvara, one of four shrines marking the compass points around the big temple. It is 13th century, still in use, looked after by a local association, and the rituals continue with Sivaratri, Sankranti and Rudraviseka. What is left is modest. The superstructure is gone, so the vimana cannot be read; the jagamohana survives in pidha order. The lingam in the sanctum is broken, sitting in its circular yonipitha just over a metre below today's ground level. Worth the short walk from Lingaraja, not a trip of its own.

Chhattisgarh

Rajiv Lochan Temple

Pilgrims on the route towards Jagannatha Dham break their journey at Rajim in their thousands every year, which tells you this is not a quiet ruin but a working 8th-century temple with a crowd. The plan is straightforward: mandapa, ante-chamber, sanctum under a shikhara, standing in a courtyard with a subsidiary shrine at each of the four corners. The four-armed Vishnu inside is the deity, but give your time to the doorways, pillars and pilasters, which carry dense carving of gods, goddesses and attendant figures. Start early if you want to look at the stonework rather than queue behind it.

Jharkhand

Rajrappa (Chhinnamastika Temple)

At Rajrappa the Damodar and Bhairavi rivers meet below a red-washed shrine of Chhinnamastika — the self-decapitated Tantric goddess who feeds her attendants from her own severed head, an image of fearless self-sacrifice. One of India's most important Tantric peeths, the temple hums with drummers, sacrifices and river-bathing pilgrims, while the waterfall confluence below gives the place a wild, elemental setting.

Bihar

Ramchaura Mandir

In Hajipur, at Rambhadra near Helabazar, the object of worship is a pair of footprints: local tradition holds that Rama stopped here on his way to Janakpur and left them behind. This is a working neighbourhood shrine rather than a monument, and it looks like one. Rama Navami is the day it comes alive, with a small fair held on the eve. Whatever was excavated at Ramchaura has gone to the Patna Museum, so there is nothing archaeological left to see on site. Worth a stop if Hajipur is already on your route, not a trip in itself.

Tamil Nadu

Rameshwaram (Ramanathaswamy Temple)

Rameshwaram sits at the very tip of a slender island connected to the Tamil Nadu mainland by the Pamban Bridge, looking out across the Palk Strait toward Sri Lanka. At its heart is the Ramanathaswamy Temple, famous for the longest corridor of any temple in India — a nearly 1,200-metre passage of sculpted pillars that seems to stretch to the horizon. As one of the twelve Jyotirlingas and one of the four Char Dham, it draws pilgrims from every corner of the country, many of whom arrive after Varanasi, believing a visit to Rameshwaram completes the pilgrimage circuit.

Rajasthan

Ranakpur Jain Temple

The Ranakpur Jain Temple, set in a quiet Aravalli valley, is a 15th-century marble masterpiece dedicated to Adinath, the first Tirthankara. Famed for its forest of 1,444 individually carved marble pillars — no two alike — it stands with Dilwara as the finest marble carving in Rajasthan.

Jharkhand

Rankini Temple, Jadugora

The image here is a stone, held to be the goddess Rankini herself rather than a carving of her. It stands in Rohinibera village near Jadugora, just off the Hata-Jadugora highway, and its original purpose is easy to feel: people crossing the dense forest stopped to ask for protection before going on. The visit is a short one. Worth planning around only if you are already driving this road out of Jamshedpur.

Maharashtra

Renuka Devi Temple (Mahur)

Renuka Devi Temple (Mahur) in Mahur, Nanded, Maharashtra is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the right hand of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Renuka (Mahishmardini). Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Odisha

Samleswari Temple

Sambalpur's presiding goddess sits on the bank of the Mahanadi, and the reach of her following is the point: after Jagannath, Samaleswari is the only deity in Odisha worshipped across a region this wide, all of western Odisha and into parts of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. Locals call her Samalei Maa. The temple is of the Sandhara order, a square sanctum ringed by a pillared gallery you walk for pradakshina, and it is two separate structures rather than one. The whole building was plastered; the surface has gone mouldy with age. Come for the worship, not the stonework.

Telangana

Sanghi Temple

Thirty-five kilometres out of Hyderabad, on top of Paramanand Giri hill at Sanghi Nagar, with a Raja Gopuram tall enough to pick out from several kilometres away. It is described as a replica of the Tirumala temple, which tells you what to expect: the shape and the scale of a great pilgrimage temple, on a hill you can reach in a morning from the city. It draws a steady flow of devotees and is run by the Sanghi family. Go early on a weekday and give it an hour, then carry on rather than making the trip only for this.

Maharashtra

Saptashrungi Temple

Saptashrungi Temple in Nashik (Vani), Maharashtra is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the chin of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Bhadrakali (Saptashrungi), and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Vikritaksha. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Madhya Pradesh

Sasbahu Temple, Gwalior

Two temples share one raised platform inside Gwalior Fort, and the nicknames mislead: Saas and Bahu, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, but the inscription Alexander Cunningham read says King Mahipala of the Kachchhapaghata dynasty built the larger between 1090 and 1093 for his Vaishnava wife, and the smaller for his Shiva-worshipping daughter-in-law. Invasions and the wars that followed took the tower and the sanctum. What is left is the entrance porch and the mandapa, on a jagati platform 100 feet by 63, and carvings damaged enough that you have to stand close. Come for the stonework rather than the shrine.

Goa

Shantadurga Temple

Shantadurga, at the foot of the Ponda hills, is the most visited of Goa's Hindu temples — dedicated to the goddess who mediated peace between Shiva and Vishnu, worshipped here in her calm (shanta) form. The temple's Indo-Portuguese architecture is unique to Goa: a pyramidal roof, a white six-storey deepastambha (lamp tower), Roman-arched windows and chandeliered halls, all in deep maroon and cream, rebuilt in the 1730s under Maratha patronage after the original shrine fled the Inquisition.

Manipur

Shree Govindajee Temple

Imphal's largest Vaishnava temple went up in 1846 under Maharaja Nara Singh and was rebuilt thirty years later by Maharaja Chandrakriti, so what stands is the 1876 building rather than the first one. It is dedicated to Radha and Krishna in the Meitei Hindu tradition. Worth arriving when worship is on rather than at an empty hour: a courtyard on its own tells you very little about a temple of this size, and the district has nothing else on the same scale.

Punjab

Shri Kali Devi Temple, Patiala

The Maharaja of Patiala brought two six-foot statues, Maa Kali and the Paawan Jyot, from Bengal in 1936 and built this temple to house them, opposite the Baradari Gardens. It is the kul devi shrine of a great many families, which is why it is busy in a way that has nothing to do with tourism. Through the nine days of the Navratras it fills up. If you want the place calm, come at any other time, then walk across to the gardens.

Maharashtra

Siddhivinayak Temple (Mumbai)

Shree Siddhivinayak is Mumbai's most beloved Ganesha temple, built in 1801 and today one of the richest and most-visited shrines in India. Its inner sanctum enshrines a black-stone idol of Lord Ganesha whose trunk curves to the right, a rare and especially auspicious form that draws millions of devotees, film stars and cricketers alike.

Telangana

Sita Ramachandraswamy Temple, Bhadrachalam

Rama here is four-armed, the Vaikuntha form Vishnu took to answer Bhadra's prayers, with Sita and Lakshmana part of the same central icon. The temple stands on the banks of the Godavari in east Telangana and is revered as Dakshina Ayodhya, the southern Ayodhya. Its story belongs as much to Kancherla Gopanna, the revenue officer who spent twelve years in jail accused of building it with the Sultan's money; the bhakti songs he composed in that cell are still sung in the temple he was punished for. Come for that, and for the river.

Telangana

Sitaram Bagh temple

A banker built this one. Seth Puranmal Ganeriwala, who handled money for the Nizams, put up the temple at Mallepally when Mallepally was still a village outside the city, and walled twenty-five acres of it behind twenty feet of masonry. That wall did unexpected work in the late 1940s, when people reportedly sheltered behind it from the Razakars. Six wells were sunk in the grounds and five survive. The Nizams paid for the upkeep, one granting revenue from two Berar villages, another funding a rebuild, which says more about how Hyderabad actually worked than any plaque does.

Mizoram

Solomon's Temple, Aizawl

One of the largest churches in Mizoram, standing in Aizawl and built by Kohhran Thianghlim, The Holy Church, the group Dr L.B. Sailo founded in 1984. It is non-denominational. The scale is the reason to go; there is not a great deal else the building will tell you on its own, so give it half an hour on your way somewhere else in the city rather than a morning.

Jharkhand

Sri Sri Kalika Maharani Temple

A Kali temple at Chira Chas in Bokaro, built by an estate developer on half an acre, and locally important enough that the small township beside it, Kalika Vihar, took its name. There is no long history here and nothing old to look at. If you live in Bokaro this is your neighbourhood temple and that is a real thing to be. If you are travelling through Jharkhand, there is no reason to route yourself past it.

Andhra Pradesh

Sri Talpagiri Ranganadha Swamy Temple, Nellore

Before you reach the main entrance there is a tower to get past: the Gaaligopuram, the wind tower, some seventy feet of it with ten feet of gold-plated kalashams sitting on top. Yeragudipati Venkatachalam panthulu put it up, and it is what everyone photographs. The temple behind it is one of the oldest in Nellore, believed to date to the 12th century, standing on the bank of the Penna River and dedicated to Ranganatha, the resting form of Vishnu. The Brahmotsavam falls in March or April depending on the calendar, which is when it is busiest and when it is most worth seeing.

Andaman & Nicobar Islands

Sri Vetrimalai Murugan Temple

The Murugan temple in Port Blair is the principal Hindu pilgrimage site for the islands, and in a territory this scattered that matters far more than the size of the building. Festivals through the year draw people here rather than anywhere else, so pick your day deliberately: an ordinary one if you want it quiet, a festival day if you want to see it working. Either way it is a stop, not a morning.

Tamil Nadu

Srirangam (Ranganathaswamy Temple)

Srirangam is a temple town on an island between the Kaveri and Kollidam rivers near Tiruchirappalli. It is built around the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, one of the largest functioning Hindu temple complexes in the world, laid out as seven concentric walled enclosures (prakarams). The complex has 21 carved gopuram gateways, crowned by the towering Rajagopuram — among the tallest temple towers in Asia. At its centre, the inner sanctum holds the reclining form of Lord Ranganatha, a form of Vishnu, resting on the serpent Adisesha.

Andhra Pradesh

Srisailam (Mallikarjuna Jyotirlinga)

Srisailam, set amid the forested Nallamala Hills above the Krishna River, is home to the Bhramaramba Mallikarjuna Temple, a rare site that is at once one of the twelve Jyotirlingas of Shiva (as Mallikarjuna) and one of the Shakti Peethas (as Bhramaramba Devi). This dual sanctity makes it one of southern India's most powerful pilgrimage destinations.

Jharkhand

Surya Temple, Ranchi

Built in the shape of a chariot with eighteen wheels and seven horses, this hilltop temple on the Ranchi-Tata road near Bundu is modern rather than ancient. The foundation stone went down in 1991 and the deity was installed in 1994, paid for by a Ranchi trust. Knowing that helps: come for the carving and the hill, not for age. Shiva, Parvati and Ganesha have shrines here too, and there is a pond where devotees bathe at Chhath. A dharamshala on site takes pilgrims who stay the night.

Odisha

Tara Tarini Temple

Tara Tarini Temple in Purushottampur, Ganjam, Odisha is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the breasts of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Tara Tarini. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

West Bengal

Taraknath temple

Know the dress code before you set out: men and boys of all ages must remove shirts and vests and go in bare above the waist. The temple was built in 1729, an atchala in the Bengal manner with a natmandir in front, and shrines to Kali and Lakshmi Narayan close by. Shiva is worshipped here as Tarakanatha, counted among the 64 jyotirlingas, and many pilgrims take a dip in Dudhpukur, the tank on the north side, which is believed to grant what is asked of it. Tarakeswar is a working pilgrimage town; expect crowds, not calm.

West Bengal

Tarapith Temple

Tarapith Temple in Rampurhat, Birbhum, West Bengal is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the third eye of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Tara (Chandi), and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Chandrachuda. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Sikkim

Thakurbari Temple, Gangtok

A Buddhist king gave the land for this one, the Chogyal of Sikkim in 1935, which tells you something about how Gangtok has worked. It is among the oldest Hindu temples in the state, sitting in the heart of town rather than on a hill above it, and it holds shrines to almost all the major deities, so people come for whichever one they need. That makes it busy and sociable rather than contemplative, and it has become the gathering point for Gangtok's Hindu community. Worth ten minutes while you are in town; not worth a trip up from elsewhere.

Manipur

Thangjing Temple, Moirang

The royal attires of the twelfth-century Moirang kings are kept and displayed here, which is reason enough to go even if the theology passes you by. This is the main seat of Thangching, a deity of Sanamahism, and one of the Imphal valley's most important ritual centres. The legend of Khamba and Thoibi belongs to this ground: the Khamba Thoibi Jagoi is held to have been danced for the first time in front of the deity's image, during the Lei Langba ritual. Loktak Lake is right there, so pair the two rather than making a separate trip.

Tamil Nadu

Thanjavur (Brihadeeswarar Temple)

Thanjavur, once Tanjore, sits in the fertile Kaveri delta and is dominated by the Brihadeeswarar Temple — the 'Big Temple'. Commissioned in 1010 CE by the Chola emperor Raja Raja I, it is one of the grandest granite temples ever built and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Built from interlocking granite blocks, its 66-metre vimana tower is capped by a single stone block said to weigh around 80 tonnes, and the courtyard holds one of India's largest Nandi bull statues.

Puducherry

Tirunallar Dharbaranyeswarar Temple

Most people arrive for Shani. The dedication is to Shiva as Dharbaranyeswarar, but the temple is better known as Tirunallar Saniswaran, and the Shani shrine is what most visitors have come for; Sanipeyarchi, its biggest occasion, comes round only every two and a half years. The masonry is Chola work of the 9th century, widened later under the Vijayanagar rulers: two acres, granite walls, a five-tiered gopuram at the gate. Praneswari Amman and Somaskanda hold the other prominent shrines. Six rituals a day, the first at six in the morning and the last at nine at night. Mahasivarathri falls in Chittirai, March into April.

Puducherry

Tiruttelicheri Parvatheeswarar Temple

The village changed its name, which is worth knowing before you ask anyone for directions: Tiruttelicheri is Koilpatthu now, out on the periphery of Karaikal. Shiva is the presiding deity here, worshipped as Parvatheeswarar, with his consort Parvathi Ammai. This is a local temple rather than a set piece, and it is not the reason anyone comes to Karaikal. Go if you are already out that way and want to see a working temple with nobody else looking at it.

Maharashtra

Trimbakeshwar (Jyotirlinga)

Trimbakeshwar, near Nashik in Maharashtra, enshrines one of the twelve sacred Jyotirlingas of Shiva and marks the source of the Godavari, India's second-longest river. Its distinctive lingam bears three faces representing Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, and the town is a key site for the Nashik Kumbh Mela.

Tripura

Tripura Sundari Temple (Matabari)

Tripura Sundari Temple (Matabari) in Udaipur, Tripura is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the right foot of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Tripura Sundari, and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Tripuresh. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Maharashtra

Tulja Bhavani Temple

Tulja Bhavani Temple in Tuljapur, Osmanabad, Maharashtra is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. It is revered as a sacred Shakti Peetha, a seat of the Mother Goddess. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Tulja Bhavani, and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Bhairava. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Assam

Ugratara Devalaya

There is no idol in the sanctum. What devotees come for is a small pit filled with water, which is taken to be the goddess herself, and it catches most first-time visitors off guard. The shrine sits by the Jor Pukhury tanks in the Latasil locality of central Guwahati, with a Shivalaya alongside and a pond behind both. A stone inscription dates the present building to 1725, under the Ahom king Siva Singha, though a land grant a decade earlier already names Ugratara beside Kamakhya, so something stood here well before. Quick to see; pair it with Kamakhya rather than making a trip of its own.

Puducherry

Varadharaja Perumal Temple, Puducherry

A five-tiered rajagopuram marks the entrance, and the granite wall behind it encloses every shrine. The Cholas built the original in the 11th century and the Pandyas expanded it in the 12th, which is why the architecture reads as a storehouse of both. Vishnu is worshipped here as Varadaraja and Lakshmi as Perundevi Thayar, in Vaishnavite and Shaktite traditions together, and the Archaeological Survey of India maintains the temple as a religious monument in the heritage town. Time a visit for Chithrai, April into May, if you want it at full volume: the ten-day Brahmostavam and the 25-day festival for Rama and Sita's marriage both fall then.

Puducherry

Vedapureeswarar Temple, Pondicherry

What stands here is a second act. French troops and local people destroyed the temple during riots between Hindus and Christians in 1748, and forty years later a Divan named Kandappa Mudaliar expanded it again on public subscription. Shiva is worshipped as Vedapurishvarar and Parvati as Tripurasundari, behind a granite wall that encloses all the shrines, under a five-tiered rajagopuram in the Dravidian manner. It is a short stop rather than a morning's worth of one, and you go for the history of what happened to the building rather than for its scale.

Andhra Pradesh

Veerabhadra Temple, Lepakshi

Look up. The paintings are the reason to come, bright and closely detailed frescoes of Rama and Krishna drawn from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranas, and unusually well preserved for 16th-century work. Carving covers nearly every exposed surface of this Vijayanagara temple to Virabhadra, the fierce form of Shiva, which means you will be here longer than you planned. Do not stop at the building itself. The Nandi lies about 200 metres away, cut from a single block of stone and reckoned one of the largest of its kind anywhere, and walking out to it is the better half of the visit.

Odisha

Vimala Temple (Jagannath, Puri)

Vimala Temple (Jagannath, Puri) in Puri, Odisha is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the feet of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Vimala, and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Jagannath. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Uttar Pradesh

Vindhyavasini Temple

Vindhyavasini Temple in Mirzapur (Vindhyachal), Uttar Pradesh is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. It is revered as a sacred Shakti Peetha, a seat of the Mother Goddess. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Vindhyavasini. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Uttar Pradesh

Vishalakshi Temple

Vishalakshi Temple in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. According to tradition, this is where the earring of Goddess Sati fell when Lord Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra divided her body. Here the Goddess is worshipped as Vishalakshi (Manikarni), and her guardian Bhairava (a form of Shiva) as Kala Bhairava. It is counted among the eighteen Ashtadasha Maha Shakti Peethas — the most revered of all the seats of the Goddess. Shakti Peethas are among the holiest pilgrimage sites for devotees of the Goddess, drawing pilgrims especially during Navratri and Durga Puja. Each is tied to the legend of Sati, whose body parts fell across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, sanctifying the ground where they landed.

Bihar

Vishnupad Temple

Gaya's Shraddha rites turn on this temple, which means most people around you are performing last rites for their dead rather than sightseeing. Behave accordingly. At the centre is a 40-centimetre footprint cut into a block of basalt, the Dharmasila, held to be Vishnu's, left when he pinned the demon Gayasura underground. A fifty-kilo gold flag sits on top, the gift of one devotee. The Gayawal Brahmins are the traditional priests here; Madhvacharya, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Vallabhacharya all came. The Phalgu runs alongside.

Delhi

Yogmaya Temple, Delhi

The building is not old; the worship is. Whatever stood here, and its first architecture is put at 300-200 BCE, was rebuilt again and again by the people living around it after the Mamluks destroyed it: Hemu raised it from ruins, a rectangular Islamic-style hall went up under Aurangzeb, and the temple you walk into dates from an early nineteenth-century restoration. Local priests claim it as the only pre-sultanate temple in Delhi still in use. Come on an ordinary day rather than during Navratri, when the congregation is large, and walk out to the Anangtal Baoli beside it, closed in by trees.