The Shivoham Shiva Temple sits on Old Airport Road in Bangalore, not in the hills like the ancient temples of Karnataka. The city is around you. The traffic is loud. The high rises are close. But the temple is not loud. The 65 foot statue of Shiva rises above the road. The face is calm. … Read more
The Vaikom Mahadeva Temple sits in the Kottayam district of Kerala, near the backwaters, surrounded by coconut palms. The air is humid. The temple is not on a hill. It is in a town. But the power is not in the location. It is in the age. The temple is old. One of the oldest … Read more
The Bhimashankar Temple sits deep in the Sahyadri hills, in the Pune district of Maharashtra. The road winds up. The trees close in. The air cools. The city is behind you. The forest is ahead. The temple is not large. The lingam is. The Jyotirlinga is one of the twelve. The name Bhimashankar comes from … Read more
The Aundha Nagnath Temple sits in the Hingoli district of Maharashtra, in the dry plains of the Marathwada region. The land is flat. The fields are brown in summer, green in monsoon. The temple is not on a hill. It is in a village. But the power is not in the location. It is in … Read more
The Char Dham Yatra is not a trip. It is a circle. Yamunotri in the east, Gangotri in the north, Kedarnath in the west, Badrinath in the south. The circuit is not a line. It is a ring. The pilgrim starts at one point and returns to the same point. The ring is closed. The … Read more
The Badrinath Temple sits in the Garhwal Himalayas, on the banks of the Alaknanda River, at an altitude of 3,300 meters. The air is thin. The wind is cold. The mountains rise in every direction. The temple is not large. The crowd is. For six months of the year, the doors are closed. The snow … Read more
The Khatu Shyamji Falgun Mela is not a quiet festival. The town of Khatu, in the Sikar district of Rajasthan, becomes a sea of people. The dust rises. The chants of Shri Shyam Baba Ki Jai fill the air. The temple is not large. The crowd is. The mela lasts for days. In 2026, it … Read more
The Sree Suvarna Temple sits on the Jogeshwari Vikhroli Link Road in Powai, Mumbai. The road is busy. The traffic is loud. The high rises are close. But the temple is not loud. The gates open to a courtyard. The sound of the street fades. The temple is not ancient. It was founded in 1957 … Read more
The Golden Temple in Amritsar is not like other temples. The doors are not closed at night. They never close. The temple is open twenty four hours a day, three hundred and sixty five days a year. The gold on the dome shines in the sun. The lamps reflect in the water of the Amrit … Read more
The Swarnagiri Temple sits on Manepally Hills, near Bhuvanagiri in Telangana, about thirty five kilometers from Hyderabad. The city is behind you. The highway is wide. The hills rise. The temple is new. It was consecrated in 2024. The stone is not worn smooth by centuries of feet. The gold is new. But the devotion … Read more