India's safest temples

Many of India’s temple tragedies have been attributed to poor crowd management. The New Sunday Express picked 20 important temples where these incidents have not been heard of.

Many of India’s temple tragedies have been attributed to poor crowd management on the part of the local authorities. The New Sunday Express picked 20 important temples where these incidents have not been heard of. Our bureaus checked these places of worship for their preparedness, but we have featured only 12 of them here. Temples such as Akshardham (Ahmedabad), Sreenathji, Nathdwara (Rajasthan), Vaidyanath (Deoghar, Jharkhand), Ramantha Swamy, Rameswaram (Tamil Nadu), Srikrishna, Udupi (Karnataka), Padmanabhaswamy (Thiruvananthapuram), Sri Ranganathaswamy, Srirangam (Tamil Nadu) and Kalighat Kali (Kolkata) appear to have their effective crowd management apparatus in place. Experts are of the opinion that the temples have to make sure that the infrastructure (roads, corridors, open spaces, entrances and exits) is suitable for the mass gathering. It should be checked if there is enough capacity and there are no bottlenecks. Besides, a good crowd management plan, which includes monitoring, scheduling and control, must be followed. The preparedness, according to experts, must include good contingency plans (e.g. evacuation) in case anything goes wrong. They advise to make use of modern technology to be able to take action in case the event does not unfold according to plan. God willing.

Golden Temple, Amritsar The foundation of the Golden Temple (Darbar Sahib) was laid by Guru Arjan Dev on January 3, 1589 along with Saint Mian Mir, a Muslim holy man. By 1601, the Golden Temple was ready...more

Kashi Vishwanath Temple, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh The temple that dates back to 1760 has witnessed attempts in the Mughal period to destroy it. However, it somehow survived and Rani Ahilya Bai of Indore got it renovated...more

Kamakhya Temple, Guwahati The temple is situated on the top of the Nilachal Hill at about 800 feet above the sea level...more

Somnath Temple, Gujarat The temple is mentioned in the Shiva Purana as one of the 12 Jyotirlingams.... more

Meenakshi Amman Temple Madurai, Tamil Nadu The deities are Sundareswarar and Meenakshi; in euphonic Tamil, she is also called Angayarkanni. There is a belief among the people in Madurai that without the blessings of Meenakshi, they can’t achieve success in life...more

Akshardham temple, Delhi The marvellous combination of pink sandstone and white marble spread over 100 acres on the banks of the river Yamuna gives a magnificent look to the 141 ft high and 316 ft wide main monument....more   Mahabodhi Temple, Bodh Gaya, Bihar

In the sixth century BC, Prince Siddhartha Gautama attained supreme enlightenment at this holy place and became the Buddha.. more Tirumala Venkateswara Temple, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh

The presiding deity is Lord Venkateswara. Devotees perform pujas on Saturdays, share some amount and keep it in the mudupu..more Guruvayur Srikrishna Temple, Kerala

The Krishna idol worshipped here is said to be more than 500 years old. But there are no historical records to establish it..more Shirdi Sai Baba Temple Shirdi, Maharashtra

Shirdi Sai Baba Temple that was built over the samadhi of Shri Sai Baba in 1922 is located in Shirdi village in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra...more SiddhiVinayak Temple, Mumbai

More than two centuries old, Siddhivinayak Temple in Mumbai’s Prabhadevi area originally was a small temple of not more than 12 sq feet...more Vaishno Devi Temple, Jammu and Kashmir

A visit to Mata Vaishno Devi is considered one of the holiest pilgrimages of our times..more