The Surapura Dada Bholad Temple sits in Bholad village, about thirty five kilometers from Ahmedabad. The land is flat. The fields are dry in summer, green in monsoon. The temple is not ancient in the way of the stone temples of the south. It is old in the way of memory. The story is not … Read more
The Baba Baidyanath Dham Temple sits in Deoghar, Jharkhand, in the dry plains that rise towards the hills of Santhal Pargana. The temple is not on a riverbank like Varanasi. It is not in a cave like Amarnath. But the lingam here is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas. And next to it, in the same … Read more
The Guruvayur Temple sits in the town of Guruvayur, in the Thrissur district of Kerala. The temple is not ancient in the way of the stone temples of Tamil Nadu. It is not large in the way of the gopurams of Madurai. But the devotion here is different. The deity is Guruvayurappan, a form of … Read more
The Tiruchendur Murugan Temple sits on the seashore, in the Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu. The waves crash against the rocks. The salt spray reaches the gopuram. The temple is not on a hill like Palani. It is not in a cave like Thiruchendur? No, it is on the sand. The god here is not … Read more
The Shirdi Sai Baba Temple sits in the small town of Shirdi, in the Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. The town is dusty. The streets are crowded. The shops sell photos, garlands, and prasad. But the temple is not dusty. The marble floors are clean. The queue moves slowly. The devotees chant. Sai Baba lived here … Read more
The Pavagadh Temple sits on a hill 822 meters above the plains of Gujarat. The climb is steep. The view is wide. The goddess is Kalika, a fierce form of Durga. This is a Shakti Peetha. The right toe of Sati fell here. The temple is not large. The crowd is. On regular days, the … Read more
The Sri Sankarankovil Temple sits in the town of Sankarankovil, in the Tenkasi district of Tamil Nadu. The temple is not like other temples. Here, Shiva and Vishnu are not separate. They are one. The deity is Sankaranarayana, the unified form of the two gods. The right half is Shiva, the left half is Vishnu. … Read more
Govardhan Parikrama is not a walk. It is a conversation. The hill is not stone. It is Giriraj Maharaj, the form of Krishna who lifted a mountain on his little finger to protect his people. The path is not dirt. It is the ground that the Lord himself walked on. When you walk around Govardhan, … Read more
Chaitra Navratri is not the loud Navratri of October. That one is Sharad Navratri, celebrated with garba and nights that stretch past midnight. Chaitra Navratri is quieter. It falls in March or April, when the winter chill is gone and the summer heat has not yet arrived. The trees are blooming. The air is fresh. … Read more
The Govind Dev Ji Temple sits inside the City Palace complex in Jaipur, not in a crowded lane like the older temples of the old city. The palace walls surround it. The gardens are neat. The red sandstone glows in the morning light. The temple is not ancient by Indian standards. It was built in … Read more