Temples in Chandigarh

One of the prominent Shakti (goddess) temples of North India, on some 100 acres of the Shivalik foothills at Bilaspur village, about 8 km from Chandigarh railway station. The main temple was built in 1811–1815 by Maharaja Gopal Singh of Manimajra; 200 m away stands the Patiala temple, added by the Maharaja of Patiala in 1840. By tradition the head of the goddess Sati fell here, which makes the ground itself sacred. On an ordinary morning it is calm. See Mansa Devi.

The temple that gave Chandigarh its name: the city is the fort (garh) of Chandi, the fierce form of Durga. It stands by the Chandigarh–Kalka highway about 15 km from the city and about 10 km from Mansa Devi, small and worn smooth by use rather than grand. Legend ties it to the Pandavas of the Mahabharata; it stands within the Chandimandir army cantonment. Locally it is honoured as a Siddh Peeth, a seat where wishes are granted, and it shares a shrine board with Mansa Devi. See Chandi Mandir.

Jayanti Devi, the goddess of victory, keeps a hilltop about 15 km from the city above the village of Jayanti Majri, in Punjab. The shrine is some 550 to 600 years old; tradition holds that the image was carried down from the Kangra hills. The sanctum stands on a raised platform braced by four octagonal bastions, so from below it reads more as a fort than a temple. A hundred-odd steps climb from the road, and the top opens onto paddy fields running out to the foothills. See Jayanti Devi.

The city's main Krishna temple, on three acres of Dakshin Marg since the late 1970s. The draw is the evening aarti (offering of lamps), when the prayer hall fills with kirtan, call-and-response singing anyone can join without knowing the words. Like most ISKCON temples it closes around midday, roughly 12:45 to 16:15, so come in the morning or the evening. The attached restaurant serves sattvic vegetarian food.