Shani Shingnapur

The village in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, 55 kilometres from Shirdi, holding the Shri Shaneshwar temple — one of India's most-visited Shani (Saturn) shrines. The village's traditional practice of building houses without door locks (the deity is believed to protect property against theft) and the complete absence of police stations in the village became a nationwide news phenomenon in the 2010s. The 2016 Supreme Court ruling, following activist Trupti Desai's campaign, overturned the 400-year ban on women entering the sanctum. The temple's self-manifest black Shani linga (5.5 feet high) is worshipped on an open-air platform; pilgrims pour sesame oil during Shanivara. The village has become a case study of community-level ethics in Indian sociology.