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Vishnupad Temple
Vishnupad Mandir (विष्णुपद मंदिर) in Hindi
Also known as: Vishnupada Temple, Vishnupad Mandir, Vishnupada Mandir, Shri Vishnupad Temple
Religions: Hinduism | Place Type: Temple | Region: Asia
Overview
Vishnupad Temple is a Hindu temple in the old city of Gaya, Bihar, India, located on the west bank of the Phalgu river. It is built around a rock in which Hindus venerate a footprint of the god Vishnu. The temple is the principal site of the Hindu ancestor rites for which Gaya is known, and pilgrims perform these rites there throughout the year, with the largest gathering during the fortnight of Pitru Paksha.
Present
Vishnupad Temple is an active Hindu place of worship and a religious public trust under the Bihar Hindu Religious Trusts Act of 1950, with the Bihar State Board of Religious Trusts holding general supervisory authority. Priests known as the Gayawals (people of Gaya) conduct the rites at the temple, and each family serves pilgrims from particular regions of India. Pilgrims come throughout the year to perform Shraddha, the Hindu rite for deceased ancestors, and to offer Pinda, balls of cooked rice dedicated to named forebears, on and around the footprint. The rites peak during Pitru Paksha, the lunar fortnight of the ancestors in September or October, when the Bihar government and the Gaya district administration organize the gathering of Pitru Paksha at Gaya.
Religious Significance
Vishnupad Temple is a Hindu temple, and Hindus regard it as the place where Vishnu, the god who preserves the universe, left the mark of his foot on the earth. According to Hindu tradition, a demon named Gayasura won a boon from Vishnu that anyone who touched him would go to heaven, which emptied the realm of the dead. The gods asked Gayasura to lend his body as the ground for a sacrifice, placed a stone on him to hold him still, and Vishnu pressed the stone down with his right foot. Hindu tradition holds that Gayasura asked in return that rites performed for the dead at this place would release the ancestors, and that Vishnu granted this and left his footprint on the stone. The stone is called the Dharmashila, and the footprint is about 40 centimeters long. For this reason Hindus regard Gaya as the principal place in India for Shraddha, the rite for deceased ancestors, and hold that a Shraddha completed at Gaya releases the ancestors from any further obligation on their descendants. The central act is Pind Daan, the offering of Pinda, balls of cooked rice, which pilgrims place on and around the footprint.
History & Structure
Vishnupad Temple has been a place of Hindu veneration since at least the fifth century, the date of the earliest inscription that refers to Vishnu's footprint at Gaya. A gateway between the Vishnupad Temple and the neighboring Surya Temple was made in 1521. The present temple was built in 1787 by Ahilyabai Holkar, the ruler of the state of Indore in central India, on the site of an earlier shrine. The temple is built of granite and rises to about 30 meters. Its tower has a stepped, pyramidal form, and the sanctum beneath it is octagonal and faces east. In front of the sanctum is a pillared hall with rows of carved stone pillars. The footprint lies in the rock at the center of the sanctum, set within an octagonal basin. The temple is located among a cluster of smaller shrines and bathing steps on the west bank of the Phalgu, which outside the monsoon dwindles to a thin stream in a wide bed of sand.
Additional Resources
- Related: Bihar Tourism
- Book: The Sacred Complex in Hindu Gaya by L. P. Vidyarthi (1961)