Naimishāranya

The sacred forest at Naimisharanya in Sitapur district, Uttar Pradesh, on the Gomati river 90 kilometres from Lucknow — one of the eight Svayam-Vyakta Kshetras (self-manifest Vishnu temples). Puranic tradition holds that the Puranas were recited to a gathering of 88,000 rishis at Naimisharanya by the sage Ugrashrava Sauti, during a thousand-year yagna held by Shaunaka. The 88,000-rishi tradition makes Naimisharanya the mythic location of Puranic composition itself. The Chakra Tirtha pond — formed where Vishnu's discus (chakra) fell when he hurled it into the earth to designate the sacred ground — anchors the complex. The Lalita Devi temple is also one of the 51 Shakta Pithas.