Everyone and everything
Trimurti cave, Mahabalipuram
Mamallapuram Trimurti cave temple
A Pallava rock-cut group of three shrines on one platform, dated by its 'Malla' inscription to Narasimhavarman I…
Guruvayur
Kerala temple town named for Guru (Brihaspati) and Vayu, who installed its Krishna image; the adjacent Mammiyoor temple…
Amarnath cave
The cave where an ice linga forms each summer, believed to wax and wane with the moon, held to be the place where Shiva…
Badrinath
Badrika Ashrama · Badarikashrama
Himalayan Char Dham shrine on the Alaknanda, with the Tapt Kund hot spring below it; documented history is clear only…
Bhadrachalam
Rama temple on the Godavari built in 1674 by the tax officer Ramadasu after a tribal woman found the images in an…
Phnom Bok
A hilltop temple of Yasovarman I (late ninth to early tenth century) with three sanctuary towers dedicated to Shiva…
Puri
Purushottama Kshetra · Jagannath Puri
Seat of Jagannath, one of the four Char Dham; the present temple was founded by Anantavarman Chodaganga in the early…
Tirumala
Tirupati · Venkata hill · Seshachalam
The seven-hilled seat of Venkateswara above Tirupati; the temple's nine-day Brahmotsavam in October and the Vaikunta…
Vaikuntha
Vishnuloka · Parama Padam · Paramapadam
Vishnu's abode, whose name is read as the place without care or flaw. Ramanuja calls it the highest station; the…
Brahma Temple, Bindusagar
A fifteenth-century Gajapati-period temple in late Kalingan style beside the Bindusagar tank, housing a four-armed…
Erawan Shrine
San Phra Phrom
The Bangkok shrine of Phra Phrom consecrated on 9 November 1956 on an astrologer's advice after accidents during the…
Kabisthalam
Kapisthalam
Divya Desam on the Kaveri held to be where Gajendra bathed and was freed; the Gajendra Varadha temple shows Vishnu on…
Kailasa temple, Ellora (Cave 16)
Kailash temple · Ellora Cave 16
The rock-cut Shiva temple begun under the Rashtrakuta king Krishna I (757–772). Its galleries carry the genuine…
Kashi (Varanasi)
Varanasi · Benares · Avimukta
Shiva's city on the Ganga, where Vishwanath is held to be king over every other deity and where death is believed to…
Kolhapur
Karavirapura · Karavira
Seat of the Mahalakshmi (Ambabai) temple, one of the Shakti Peethas, and in the Tirumala telling the place Lakshmi…
Madurai
The Pandya capital of Meenakshi and Sundareswarar, whose temple was sacked by Malik Kafur in 1311, reopened under…
Pushkar
Pushkar Lake · Brahma Temple, Pushkar
The lake town where Brahma's lotus fell and where he held his sacrifice; home of his best-known temple…
Tiruvannamalai (Arunachala)
Arunachala · Annamalai
The hill that the Tamil tradition identifies with Shiva's pillar of fire, the fire element among the five element…
Udupi
Madhvacharya's temple town on the Karnataka coast, where eight mathas rotate charge of the Krishna shrine every two…
Ahobilam
Nine-shrine Narasimha pilgrimage centre in the Nallamala hills, held to be where the man-lion tore open the pillar and…
Alandi
Town on the Indrayani river where Dnyaneshwar took samadhi; the starting point of the Varkari palkhi procession to…
Angkor Wat
Vrah Vishnuloka
The great temple of Suryavarman II (reigned 1113 to about 1150), dedicated to Vishnu and laid out as Mount Meru in a…
Ayodhya
Rama's birthplace on the Sarayu; pilgrims bathe in the river on Rama Navami, and the Ram Mandir enshrines the infant…
Bhimashankar
Jyotirlinga in the Sahyadri forest at the source of the Bhima river, built up by Nana Phadnavis; both its legend and…
Brahma Temple, Asotra (Shri Kheteshwar Brahmadham Teerth)
A modern Brahma temple built by Sant Khetaram Ji Maharaj and promoted as India's second Brahma temple after Pushkar.
Brahma Temple, Khedbrahma
A late-eleventh-century temple dedicated to Brahma, one of the few in India.
Brahmapureeswarar Temple, Tirupattur
A Shiva temple with a self-manifest linga, a Brahma shrine in meditative lotus pose, twelve lingas installed by Brahma…
Brahmaputra river
Lauhitya · Son of Brahma
The great river of Assam, named as Brahma's son: in the Kalika Purana the child Lauhitya takes the form of water.
Chidambaram
Tillai · Thillai
The temple of Nataraja in the old Tillai forest, the ether shrine among the five element temples and one of the five…
Dehu
Tukaram's home town on the Indrayani, from which his palkhi sets out each year on the Wari to Pandharpur.
Deoghar (Baidyanath)
Baba Baidyanath Dham · Baiju-nath
The Vaidyanath jyotirlinga of Jharkhand, which also claims Ravana's atmalinga set down by Vishnu as the shepherd Baiju…
Dwarka
Krishna's royal city on the Gujarat coast; the Dwarkadhish temple, a Char Dham and the 98th Divya Desam, was destroyed…
Elephanta Caves
Gharapuri
Fifth- to sixth-century rock-cut Shiva temple, probably Kalachuri, whose Cave 1 carries the great three-faced Sadashiva…
Ganagapur
Ganagapura · Gangapur
The chief Dattatreya centre of the Guru Charitra tradition, where Narasimha Saraswati established his monastery; the…
Gokarna
The Mahabaleshwar temple on the Karnataka coast that holds Ravana's atmalinga; the name (cow's ear) comes from the…
Govardhan
The hill Krishna lifted to shelter Braj; the Shrinathji image is held to have emerged from it and was first worshipped…
Grishneshwar
Jyotirlinga near the Ellora caves, rooted in the story of the devotee Ghushma; rebuilt by Maloji Bhosale and by Gautama…
Harihar
Harihareshwara temple · Kudalur
Hoysala-period temple town whose Harihareshwara shrine (built about 1223–24 by the minister Polalva) enshrines the…
Kapalamochana tirtha
Kapala-mochana · Kapalmochan
The bathing place in Kashi where Brahma's skull finally dropped from Bhairava's hand and the sin of killing a brahmin…
Kedarnath
The northernmost jyotirlinga, a three-sided rock worshipped as the hump of the bull-Shiva that the Pandavas chased; the…
Kudalasangama
Kappadisangama
The meeting place of the Krishna and Malaprabha rivers where Basavanna grew up and whose Shiva, 'lord of the meeting…
Kumbakonam Brahma Temple (Vedanarayana Perumal)
A Vishnu temple popularly called the Brahma temple: Vedanarayana Perumal with Vedavalli in the sanctum, Brahma flanked…
Lingaraj Temple
Ekamra Kshetra
Bhubaneswar's 55 m Somavamsi temple, whose deity was first under a mango tree (hence Ekamra) and whose underground…
Mahur
Mahurgad · Matapur
Hill town held locally to be Dattatreya's birthplace, with temples to Renuka (one of Maharashtra's three-and-a-half…
Mandar Parvat
Mandar hill · Bounsi
A granite hill near Bhagalpur that local belief identifies with the Mandara used as the churning rod; it carries a…
Manikarnika Ghat
The cremation ghat and well at Kashi where, per the Kashi Khanda, Vishnu dug with his discus and filled the pit with…
Mathura
Krishna's birthplace, where the Janmasthan complex marks Kamsa's prison; a Gupta-era temple stood here around 400 CE…
Mount Kailash
Kailasa · Gang Rinpoche
The 6,638 m peak that Hindus hold to be Shiva's home with Parvati, Ganesha and Kartikeya, identified with Meru; never…
Narsobawadi
Narasobawadi · Nrusinhawadi
Dattatreya pilgrimage town where Narasimha Saraswati is said to have lived for twelve years; his sandals (padukas), not…
Nathdwara
The Pushtimarg town in Mewar that grew where Shrinathji's cart sank into the mud in 1672 under Maharana Raj Singh.
Neelkanth Mahadev
The temple at the meeting of the Pankaja and Madhumati streams, 32 km from Rishikesh, that claims the spot where Shiva…
Pandalam
Seat of the royal house that, in the Sabarimala tradition, found the infant Ayyappa by the Pamba and raised him as…
Pandharpur
Vithoba's town on the Bhima river, goal of the Varkari pilgrimage; worship attested by 1189, the present shrine most…
Pashupatinath
Nepal's great Shiva temple on the Bagmati, with a four-faced mukhalinga that only its four Bhatta priests may touch…
Rameswaram
The southernmost jyotirlinga and a Char Dham site, where Rama is said to have worshipped Shiva before or after the war…
Sabarimala
Sabarimalai · Sabari hill
Hill shrine of Ayyappa as Dharma Shasta in the Western Ghats of Kerala. Tradition says the king of Pandalam built the…
Sankarankovil
Sankaran Koil · Sankarankoil
Tenth-century Pandya temple of Sankaralinga, Gomathi Amman and Sankaranarayana. Its sthala puranam tells of Gomathi's…
Simhachalam
Hill temple of Varaha-Narasimha, a Prahlada pilgrimage centre where the image is kept under sandal paste all year.
Sivadol, Sivasagar
The 1734 Ahom temple of queen Ambika on the Borpukhuri tank, 104 ft high and said to be India's tallest Shiva temple…
Somnath
Prabhas Patan
Traditionally the first jyotirlinga, built by the moon-god after Shiva eased Daksha's curse; tradition says the temple…
Srikalahasti
The air-element linga, named for a spider, a serpent and an elephant that each worshipped it and won release; the site…
Srirangam
Island in the Kaveri holding the Ranganathaswamy temple — 63 hectares, 81 shrines, the largest functioning temple…
Tarakeswar (Taraknath)
Bengal's Shiva shrine founded around 1634 after a cow poured milk on a stone; pilgrims come on Mondays, at Shivaratri…
Thirukkadaiyur
Temple of Amritaghateswarar and Abirami where Shiva is worshipped as the conqueror of death for Markandeya. Stub entity.
Thiruvananthapuram
Trivandrum · Ananthapuri
Capital of Travancore and of Kerala, named for Ananta, the serpent of the reclining Padmanabhaswamy; the Ananthankadu…
Thrikkakara
The Vamanamoorthy temple near Kochi, the focal shrine of Onam, where the festival flag is raised on Atham day and the…
Trimbakeshwar
The jyotirlinga at the source of the Godavari on Brahmagiri, with a three-faced linga read as Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva…
Ujjain (Mahakaleshwar)
Seat of the Mahakaleshwar jyotirlinga, named by Kalidasa, where the dawn bhasma aarti uses cremation ash; the legend of…
Vadakkunnathan Temple
Kerala's Shiva temple where a sixteen-foot linga stands under a mound of ghee said never to melt; its legend has Shiva…
Vrindavan
Braj · Vraja
The forest town of Krishna's childhood — the Rasa lila, Kaliya's pool, Govardhan nearby; Chaitanya's 1515 visit sought…
Yadagirigutta
Hill shrine of Narasimha in Telangana, the third of the Narasimha–Prahlada centres named with Ahobilam and Simhachalam.
Bali
The Indonesian island whose Hinduism keeps Brahma, Wisnu and Siwa within a framework of one supreme Widhi and…
Elephanta Caves
Gharapuri
Rock-cut Shaiva caves whose Cave 1 holds the seven-metre three-faced bust popularly called Trimurti and read by most…
Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram)
The Pallava port whose so-called Trimurti cave holds three shrines cut under Narasimhavarman I; the identity of the…
Panch Kedar
The five Garhwal shrines where the bull-Shiva's body re-emerged: hump at Kedarnath, arms at Tungnath, face at…
Srisailam
Mallikarjuna
Hill shrine of Mallikarjuna, one of the jyotirlingas, whose temple legend is Puranic; the Chenchu tribe's claimed link…
Tiruchengode
Hill temple of Ardhanareeswarar, where an image of the half-woman form is taken in procession on Karthigai Deepam day…