Gaya (गया)

What makes Gaya a temple town

Gaya is a temple town in the strictest sense: the town exists in its present shape because of a rite. Pind daan for the ancestors has been performed here since before the Puranas described it, the Vishnupad temple stands over what the tradition holds to be Vishnu's footprint, and the tirtha-purohits who conduct the rites are a hereditary profession rather than a trade.

The circuit runs across the town rather than inside one building — the Falgu, the Vishnupad, the Akshayavat, Mangla Gauri on the hill — and is walked between stations over one day or several. For a fortnight each year, through Pitru Paksha, the whole town is given over to it.