Vishnupad Temple Gaya

Gaya is celebrated in the Puranas as the supreme place for ancestral rites, where offering pind daan is believed to grant liberation (moksha) to one's forebears. The footprint of Vishnu makes the temple the sacred centre of this tradition. The annual fortnight-long Pitru Paksha Mela draws immense crowds of pilgrims fulfilling their duty to their ancestors.

The Vishnupad temple on the banks of the Falgu river enshrines a 40-cm footprint (charan) of Lord Vishnu, said to have been left when he pressed down the demon Gayasura. The present temple was rebuilt in 1787 by Rani Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore, its towering octagonal shikhara a landmark of Gaya. The city is the most important tirtha in India for shraddha and pind daan — the rites offered for the salvation of departed ancestors — and pilgrims come from across the country, especially during the Pitru Paksha Mela, to perform these ceremonies at the Vishnupad and the surrounding ghats and sacred spots.