Narayani Devi, Jhunjhunu

The Rani Sati temple at Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan — the chief pilgrimage centre of the Marwari-Agrawal mercantile community of North India and the single most important sati memorial in India. The temple commemorates the 1295 sati-immolation of Narayani Devi, wife of a Marwari merchant Tandan Dass, who followed her husband into funeral pyre at Jhunjhunu. The temple has been continuously patronised by the Marwari community through Jaipur, Rajasthan and later the Birla, Dalmia and Modi industrial families. The annual Bhadra Amavasya fair each August-September draws over 200,000 Marwari-Agrawal pilgrims from across India. The 1987 Rajasthan Sati Prevention Act and the subsequent Supreme Court interventions have made sati-commemoration legally sensitive; the Rani Sati temple navigates these restrictions by framing the goddess as a general Shakti deity rather than specifically commemorating sati.