Place · goddess temple · India
Yogmaya, Delhi
Also known as Delhi, Mehrauli, Yogmaya, Yogmaya (Vindhyavasini), Yogmaya Mandir, Yogmaya Mandir — Mehrauli
The Yogmaya temple at Mehrauli in Delhi — a small shrine traditionally believed to date to the epic settlement of Indraprastha (the Pandavas' capital of the Mahabharata), making it one of the oldest surviving sacred sites in Delhi. The deity Yogmaya is identified with the goddess Mahamaya (Devaki's seventh daughter who was substituted for the infant Krishna to deceive Kamsa). The current temple structure is 1827 rebuild under Mughal emperor Akbar II's patronage; the earlier medieval structure was destroyed by Alauddin Khilji in 1298 during his Delhi fortifications. The temple is one of the only 27 surviving pre-Islamic Hindu temples in Delhi. The temple sits within the Qutb Minar archaeological zone. The annual October Navratri and the April Vaisakhi festivals draw local pilgrims. The temple is managed by the Yogmaya Mandir Trust.
- Function
- Sacred site & pilgrimage
- Confidence
- Mixed / layered — The physical place or feature is identifiable; its sacred origin or association belongs to a textual or living tradition.
- Location
- 28.517, 77.184
Connections (3)
- Delhi shrinesJhandewalan Hanuman, Delhi
Yogmaya at Mehrauli is a small temple believed locally to go back to the epic settlement at Indraprastha and one of very few Delhi temples to have survived the sultanate period; the colossal Hanuman at Jhandewalan is of the 1990s and is visible from the metro. Between them they cover the whole range of Delhi's Hindu shrines — an ancient survival in the old southern city, and a modern landmark built to be seen from a train.
- Shared site withQutb Sāhib, Mehrauli
The Phoolwalon ki Sair, instituted by Akbar Shah II in the 1810s, takes flower offerings to the Yogmaya temple and to the Qutb Sahib dargah in the same procession, a few hundred metres apart at Mehrauli. It is still held. A Mughal emperor's festival is the reason Delhi's oldest surviving Hindu shrine and its oldest Sufi shrine are visited on one walk.
- Site withinDelhi
Yogmaya, Delhi sits inside Delhi and forms one piece of its layered sacred, royal or civic landscape. The city carries this entry as one of the sites that make its urban fabric legible — a shrine, monument, institution or craft tradition specifically anchored at this location — and the city's broader history reads better when the stop is seen in its context rather than in isolation. The surrounding streets, markets and other heritage ensembles around it belong to the same single city.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Yogmaya Temple, Delhi”. Archaeological Survey of India and State Archaeology monument records, and the standard regional literature.
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