Top Wealthiest Temples in India:
India, a land of Temples with religious beliefs and diverse cultures has raised temples as destinations to get solace and are a treat to architecture lovers. There are several temples in India which have immense faith and miracles drew a huge number of visitors from all over the world. Many devotees have donated sacks of diamonds, gold, and silver for getting adorned with best of everything. Here is the list of rich temples of India which earn millions every year.
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Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala
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The highest earning temple in India is located at W. Nada of East Fort in Thiruvananthapuram of Kerala. It is also known as a gold temple in South India. This is the richest and wealthiest temple in India and Lord Padmanabhaswamy shrine owns a wealth of nearly 20 billion dollars in six domes of valuable Gold. The Idol of God, Mahavishnu in this temple is of Gold and worth of Rs. 500 crore. That is the reason it is known as the richest shrine in the world. This temple treasure includes Golden Crowns, Gold ornaments, golden bow, Diamonds and antique jewelry bejeweled with diamonds and emeralds. The Gold Necklace of the deity is of 18 feet long and weighs nearly 2.5 kg.
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Tirumala Tirupati Venkateswara Temple in Andhra Pradesh
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The Tirumala Tirupati Venkateswara Swami Temple is located at S. Mada Street in Tirumala, Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh. This God is known as the world richest god. Till last 10 years, there is a belief that this temple is the wealthiest temple in the world. But later the reports of Padmanabhaswamy Temple and its unbelievable amount of properties, Tirupati has moved to the second position in the list of wealthiest temples. Every day nearly 60K devotees visit this temple. Tirupati temple income annually out of selling laddus is nearly 11 million dollars. Every year, this temple gets a donation of more than Rs.650 crore.
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Shirdi Saibaba Shrine in Mumbai
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This temple is located at Shirdi, Rahata Taluka of Ahmednagar District in Maharashtra. Many Indians of different religions have a belief in Sai Baba Miracles. That is the reason many people have given donations to this temple and turned it into the third wealthiest temple in the nation. This temple has gold and silver jewelry of Rs. 32 crore and silver coins worth around Rs. 6 lakh. The donations received by the temple annually is nearly Rs. 360 crore.
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Vaishno Devi Temple in Jammu
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The famous Vaishno Devi Temple is located at Katra in Jammu and Kashmir. It is one of the richest and old temples in the nation. The Goddess Mata Vaishno Devi temple visited by millions of people from across the world. The temple has an annual income of nearly 500 crores. More than 8 million pilgrims visit this temple every year and it is India’s second most visited temple after Tirupathi.
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Siddhivinayak Temple in Mumbai
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This temple is located at SK Bole Marg, Prabhadevi of Mumbai in Maharashtra. There are 25,000 to 25 lakh people who visit this temple every day. The annual income of this temple is about Rs. 48 crore to Rs. 125 crore. The dome over the Ganesha’s Main Shrine coated with Gold about 3.7 kg. The idol of this temple a black stone and is nearly 200 years old. In 1990, the temple is reconstructed into a building.
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Golden Temple in Amritsar
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The Golden Temple is located in Amritsar of Punjab. This temple is the popular religious place of Sikh Community & also known as Harmandir Sahib. This temple has the richest community in India. It attracts visitors for its exclusive architectural history and golden color. The shrine in this temple decorated with golden and silver detailed allocation and looks stunning at night with its illuminated golden dome. This temple also has an Indo Islamic and Indo European touch which gives the temple a divine look. The Canopy (cover) of this temple is made up of gold. The shrine on which Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book is kept is bejeweled with diamonds and dazzling stones. Every day, on an average there are more than 40,000 visitors to this temple.
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Meenakshi Temple in Madurai
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This temple is located in Madurai of Tamil Nadu. The Meenakshi Temple in India is one among the few temples that receive over 30k people per day. The temple’s periphery consists of 33,000 sculptures. The Goddess Meenakshi, Sundareshwar’s (Lord Shiva) wife is the deity of this temple. It consists of 14 gopurams which differ in heights from 45-50m. The temple consists of two Vimanas, which are of gold and these increase the eye-catching scenic of this famous temple.
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Jagannath Temple in Puri
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The Jagannath Temple is located at Grand Road in Puri of Odisha. According to a report in 2010, published that the deposits in the bank of this temple were up to 150 crores. The temple has Rs. 15,000 to 20,000 donations and this is increased by six times during the festive season. Every day, this temple visited by over 30,000 devotees and more than 70,000 visitors per day during the festive season.
A devotee of European donated Rs. 1.72 crore through SBI Bank.
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Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi
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This Temple is located in Varanasi of Uttar Pradesh. It is one of the most religious travel places in the nation. Several times in the past, it looted and demolished, but it still stands in glory and fame. With Estimation, this temple annually has nearly 3 million domestic tourists and 200,000 foreign visitors. The Kashi Vishwanath Temple has around Rs. 4 – 5 crore of annual donations. In this temple, 2 domes are gold plated among three.
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Somnath Temple in Gujarat
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The Somnath Temple is located at Prabhas Kshetra, Veraval in Saurashtra of Gujarat. This temple been looted and demolished nearly 17 times by the invaders for its gold and silver. Even though, it possesses enough assets to rank in the list of richest temples in India. This temple is a traveler’s delight for its exclusive architectural design, prominent religious significance and overall construction of the temple with the advanced scientific method.
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Guruvayurappan Temple, Kerala
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The Guruvayurappan Temple is located at Guruvayar, Thrissur in Kerala. This temple dedicated to Lord Krishna also known as Dwarka of South India. Every year, around 6-10 million devotees visit this temple and are apparently listed in the wealthiest temples in South India. Every day, over 50,000 people visit this temple. This temple possesses around 230 acres of land. The Guruvayurappan Temple board has a collection of nearly Rs. 400 crore in which Rs. 2.5 crores is the Hundi collection per month.
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Amarnath Temple in Jammu
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This temple is located in Jammu and Kashmir at Baltal Amarnath Trek of Forest Block, Anantnag, Pahalgam. Besides, the difficulties faced by the people during the visit, this temple have many Hindu devotees from all over the world. People wish to visit this temple at least one time in their life time.
This temple has more than 2.44 lakh devotees at Amarnath Yatra in 2014. If this yatra is open for the devotees throughout the year, there will be a benefit of Rs. 24,000 crore for Jammu and Kashmir Government.
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Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple in Kerala
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This Temple is located at Sabarimala, Pampa Triveni, Pathanamthitta in Kerala. This temple visited by over 50 million devotees every year. This temple will be at the top of the list in terms of people and devotees visiting. The interesting fact only men are allowed and pray in the temple. Around Rs. 230 crore revenue earned by this temple during the season of pilgrimage. During 2011-12 pilgrimage season, the total income of this temple was Rs. 218 crore.
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Swaminarayan Akshardham Temple in Delhi
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The Swaminarayan Akshardham Temple is located at Noida Mor in New Delhi. This Temple has an eye-catching architecture and is a treat to architecture lovers. This temple is the newest entry in this list. Every year, the Hindu Shrine in this temple attracts many lakhs of people. The idol of the God, Swaminarayan made of bright jewelry, Gold. The Temple has the Guinness Record for Being the World’s Largest Comprehensive Hindu Temple.
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Mahalaxmi Temple in Kolhapur in Maharashtra
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The Mahalaxmi Temple located in Maharashtra at Shiv Prabhu Nagar in Survey Nagar of Kolhapur. This temple in India one among the 51 Shaktipeethas and dedicated to Goddess Durga Devi. The Kolhapur Mahalaxmi Temple ranks on the list of wealthiest temples in India. The Goddess idol made of a black color stone and decorated with spectacular gold and silver jewelry. The total income was over Rs. 14,66,83,000 during the 2013-2014 year.
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Lingaraj Temple in Odisha
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The Famous Lingaraj Temple is located in Odisha at Lingaraj Road in Old Town of Bhubaneshwar. This temple is located at Lord Shiva and has more than 6000 visitors per day and more than 2 lakh visitors during the festival, Shivarathri. The temple has a breathtaking architecture of Kalinga. This temple collects a great annual income of over 1.2 million from donations and more than 4 million from other sources like shops rents, agricultural lands, and cycle stands.