India is a homeland of all the cultures and per the studies, India consists of close to 2 million temples that are known for their popularity with immense respect by devotees.
These temples of India are also a spot of attraction for tourists, due to their spiritual values, brilliant architectures, ancient beliefs, and the kind of peace they emit.
We find Ourselves closer to God at worship place, no matter related to which religion. When you visit a sacred place an inner peace sparks inside and you will forget all the potential stressors for a movement.
We have picked and listed Top 10 famous temples from all over India.
They are super popular not only in India but outside of India too. As most devotees get their wishes fulfill in these temples, some wishes for health, prosperity, and well-being and got it as per their desires.
Below is the Map representation of temples we are covering, stay tuned :
Map Representation
1. Venkateswara Temple, Tirumala
credits: hindustanTimes
Venkateswara Temple is located in Chittoor District of Andhra Pradesh. This temple is dedicated to Lord Vishnu's Avatar (form) in Venkateswara. This temple has some other names like Tirupati Temple, Tirumala temple, and is the richest temple in the world in terms of donations receiving every year.
With its strategic location in between all major cities of Andhra, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. This temple gets an average of 75,000 visitors daily and during peak festival days the count shoots to 5,00,000 visitors per day. This high count has made this Temple rank on the top list of "Most visited Holy-places" in the world and the most famous temple of India.
Many devotees do their head tonsured as an offering to God here, either its a Man, Woman or a kid. And according to the stats the daily collection is in Ton.
When you are visiting this temple, DO NOT FORGET to take the world-famous Tirupati Prasadam "Tirupati Laddu" for your family and friends.
Temple Operational Timings - 2:30.HRS to 23:00.HRS all days of the week (due to Corona timings may vary)
Places to Visit Nearby - Akashganga Teertham, Silathoranam, Govindarajan Temple, Talkona Waterfalls.
Best Time to visit: September to February, winter days are best to visit this temple as Summer temperature goes up to 42°C.
2. Sai Baba Temple, Shirdi
Credits: sai.org.in
Sai Baba is an India Spiritual Guru who is worshipped by both Hindu and Muslim followers.
Satya Sai Baba, a fakir saint who is born in 1838, mysteriously came to Shirdi in his youth days and by his blessings, philosophy, and miracles Soon full village became a devotee of Baba.
Some of his miracles are to lit a lamp with water and curing untreatable illness. Sai baba was someone who never inclined towards any religion. he always taught us "Sabka Malik Ek" (Everyone's master is one).
Sai Baba Temple is located in Shirdi town, Maharashtra and with an average of 25,000 visitors daily, this temple is one of the most popular temples of India.
Near to Sai Baba Temple, Dwarkamai Masjid is present. It was the home of Sai baba for several years. And today also this mosque has Dhuni "sacred fire", Once lit up by Sai baba and from that time it flaming till date.
Temple Operational Timings - 4:00 AM to 10:30 PM all days of the week (due to Corona timings may vary)
Places to Visit Nearby - Dwarkamai Masjid, Shani Shingnapur - A place with no doors.
Best Time to visit: December to February, winter days are best to visit, if you want less crowd visit b/w March to May
3. Vaishno Devi
Credits: tamplepurohit.com
Related Read -Vaishno Devi Temple a Complete Guide
Vaishno Devi temple is located on a hilltop of Trikuta hill and includes a trek of 12KM from the base camp of Katra town, Jammu.
There are no Idols instead, the goddess has incarnated into 3 rocks inside the cave.
Ardhkuwari Cave
There is a cave on halfway and fact about this cave is anyone be it fat/slim or old/young are able to pass through crawling in steep cave, it is believed the godess stayed in this cave for 9 months in the position of a child in a mother's womb.
After starting the journey you will listen loud chant of "Jor Se bolo, Jai Mata di" urging you to join the chants.
Even after large amounts of pilgrims visiting this temple every day, the temple board maintains high cleanliness and the entire trek is open 24*7 with an adequate amount of shops and resting spots and is one of the most popular Temple of India
Tips - 1. On main Entrance "Parchi" or registration chit is given, keep it handy as it will be asked by the guards at the temple, if lose you have to come back again and make a fresh one from base camp.2. Do visit Bhairon Temple after Darshan as journey is not considered complete without it. 3. Only Local Sim and Post Paid numbers to work in Jammu.
Temple Operational Timings - 24*7 and all days of the week (due to Corona timings may vary)
Places to visit on the Trek - Baan Ganga, Ardhkunwari Temple, Sanjhi Chat Bhairon Temple.
Best time to visit: March and October and during Navratri, plan carefully in Rainy season.
4. Golden Temple
Credits: blog.railyatri.in
This Beautiful Temple located amid a man mad pool and is also known as Harmandir Sahib.
Golden Temple get its name as the main temple covers with gold foil. Known for its absolute purity and welcoming gesture towards all religions, this Amritsar based temple gets approximately 1 lakh visitors from all over the world per day. :O
The World's Largest Community Kitchen
The Temple Authority runs a community kitchen every day, It is the World's largest community. Its an Inspiration to humanity as it feeds to all who visit the great "langar", unbiased on religion and caste. On your next visit to this Temple make sure to eat one of the best meals in the world, in the worlds largest kitchen and do enroll in "SEVA".
Temple Operational Timings - 2:00.AM to 10:00.PM every day (due to Corona timings may vary)
Places to visit nearby - Wagah Border, Jalian wala bagh, Partition Museum.
Don't forget you are in PUNJAB, a land of heavenly food. So do try to stretch your appetite to the maximum.
5. Ramanathaswamy Temple, Rameswaram
Credits: godsownweb.blogspot.com
Tamil Nadu, The Temple state of India. Being a home to some of the best temples of the world, one such Temple is Ramnathswamy Temple. It is located on the Southern tip of India in Rameshwaram town and holds its tales from Ramayana.
It is said that Lord Rama made a Linga near seashore before the great war with Sri-Lankan king Ravana.
This temple is also one of the Char Dham sites and is one of the most sacred temples in Hindu religion. it is also in one of the 12 jyotirlingas in India.
Tip - if you have not visited the Ramnathswamy temple your visit to Kashi (Varanasi) - the spiritual capital of India, will be incomplete.
This Temple's corridor is the longest for any Hindu temple.
6. Kedarnath
Credits: holidify.com
The Temple is a devote to Lord Shiva.
Located in the Rudraprayag region near to Skiing capital of Auli ,Guarded by snow clad Himalayan Range this magnificent temple comes under the State of Uttrakhand,
There is no direct road till temple, you need to trek 22KM on the hill to reach this temple, like Vaishno Devi. You can also take a porter, horse to reach to the temple premises, this temple is also one of the 12 jyotirlingas
This temple has its connection from Mahabharat.
It is said that Pandavas were in full regret after the war and wanted to meet lord Shiva for forgiveness, but on the other side, Lord Shiva didn't want to forgive them and successfully escaped.
But when he hid in these Kedarnath hills in the form of a bull, Bhima managed to recognize him and hold his tail, when shiva tries to disappears again. And then the Pandava built the first temple at Kedarnath. The present temple is a renovation by Adi Shankaracharya in the 8th century.
Temple devastated in 2013 floods, resulting in a lot of pilgrims either dying or were injured unless Indian Army rescued them. And With the grace of Lord Shiva, the temple and premises became ready in a year and is hosting all its pilgrims till day.
7. Dwarkadhish Temple
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Dwarkadhish temple is located in Dwarka, Gujrat and dedicated to Lord Krishna. This is one of the Char dams along with Badrinath, Puri and Rameswaram.
As per the Archaeological survey, its a 2000 years old temple and built by Lord Krishna's grandson. This temple is a 5 story building standing on 72 pillars and has a separate entry and exit doors.
Temple Gates - Entry Gate is the Moksha Dwar "salvation door" and the exit gate is Swarga Dwar (gate to heaven).
Dwarkadhish temple was destroyed by sultan Mahmud begada in 1472 and was rebuild in the 15-16th century, and till date, it is standing as an epitome of blessing for its disciples.
8. Jagannath Puri Temple
Credits: odishabytes.com
Jagannath puri temple is dedicated to Lord Vishnu. It is located in Puri city of Orrisa on the bank of Bay of Bengal on the Eastern Coast of India.
This temple has a very famous Jaggannath puri Rath Yatra (annual chariot festival). This chariot festival is dedicated to Lord Krishna, his sister Subhadra and his elder brother Balaram.
Jagannath puri Rath Yatra is a 15-day long festival and a belief is that Lord Jagannath visits his birthplace in this time.
Unlike other temples, the deities here are made of wood. And the prasad gets prepare only in earthen pots by using fire-woods.
Jagannath Puri Temple is also one of the 4 Dhams and also a temple that was subject to destruction by Mughal ruler Aurangzeb.
Later the temple was shut down instead of destruction and was reopen post-death of Tyrant Aurangzeb and due to the invasion temple authority has made a rule as per that non-Hindu people are not allowed inside the premises.
9. Khatu Shyam Temple
Credits: hindi.holidayrider.com
This unique temple is located in the Sikar district of Rajasthan, 80 km northwest to the capital city Jaipur. It belongs to Barbarika or Khatushyam who's head was found in the village of Khatu.
And as per the dream of King Roop Singh, the temple construction carried out and an idol was placed on 11th Day of Shukla paksha in Phagun month.
This idol is one of its kind with only head and no-body.
With its miracles this temple is able to attract a lot of devotees.
Another temple of Khatu Shyam Ji is located near Lambha, Ahmedabad in Gujrat, and is known as Baliya Dev.
10. Mahabodhi Temple
Credits: uniglobesunbursttravel.com
Situated in the Bodhgaya region of Bihar, this temple is perfect if you are looking for spiritual peace.
This place is a UNESCO heritage site and also called the land of enlightenment as Gautam Buddha started his spiritual journey at this place.
It attracts a lot of tourists who are looking to attain a peaceful journey.
This temple is worth a visit and Located 120 Km approx from the Capital city Patna.
These are some of the most famous temples located in all parts of India.
We are coming up with mysterious temples of India in upcoming post.
Thank you for staying with us on this journey.
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