Mysore takes its name from this hill. Before the British anglicized it, before the Maharajas built their palace at its base, the city was called Mahishooru — “the place of Mahisha” — after the demon king Mahishasura, who ruled this …
Sri Veera Venkata Satyanarayana Swamy Temple at Annavaram, perched on Ratnagiri Hill in Kakinada district, Andhra Pradesh, is the second most visited temple in the state after Tirumala — and unlike many temples of comparable scale, almost every service a …
A cowherd’s daughter named Anandavalli, also remembered as Gollabhama, spent her youth in unbroken devotion to Lord Shiva, climbing repeatedly to the old shrine on what is now called Rudra Shikharam, one of the three distinctive peaks of the Trikuta …
According to the legend at the heart of this Navagraha temple, Angaraka — the planetary deity associated with Mars — once suffered from a severe skin affliction described in tradition as leprosy. Seeking relief, he came to this specific site …
thin the human soul that obscures the path to devotion.
Annamaya Sankirtanas (devotional compositions by the saint-poet Annamacharya) and Vedic hymns are sung to the newlywed God and Goddesses throughout the ritual, and on occasion, group folk dance performances — …
In a village called Bholad, near Ahmedabad in Gujarat, stand the samadhis (memorial shrines) of two men who, according to local tradition, sacrificed their lives nearly 900 years ago defending cows, women, Brahmins, and dharma itself: Veer Tejaji Dada and …
If you visited Tirumala in previous years and secured your ₹10,000 VIP Break Darshan ticket at the JEO Office, the Vijaya Bank counter, or one of the other familiar physical booths near the temple, plan for a different experience in …
In the heart of Connaught Place, surrounded by the office towers, retail arcades, and relentless traffic of one of Delhi’s busiest commercial districts, a single sound has continued without interruption for more than six decades: “Shri Ram, Jai Ram, Jai …
In a garden of jasmine flowers known as Mullaivanam, by the banks of the Vennaru River, there lived a sage named Niruthuvar with his wife Vedikai. According to the temple’s founding legend, Vedikai was pregnant, and on a day when …
In a country where nearly every major temple offers some version of a faster lane for a fee — VIP darshan, special entry tickets, priority sevas — Chilkur Balaji Temple near Hyderabad has built its entire five-century identity on refusing …
