Naina Devi Temple, Nainital stands in Nainital, Uttarakhand, is a shrine to Goddess Naina Devi, a form of Shakti/Parvati. It is also known as Naini Devi Temple, Nayna Devi Mandir.
Naina Devi Temple is counted among the 51 Shakti Peethas in regional and popular tradition, with the eyes of Sati said to have fallen at this spot, giving the town of Nainital its name. It should be noted that a separate Naina Devi temple in Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh is also, and more commonly in classical enumerations, associated with the 'eyes' Shakti Peetha. Legend holds that Naina Devi is the Shakti Peetha where Sati's eyes fell as Shiva carried her body across the earth, and that the town of Nainital itself takes its name from this ('Naina').
Uttarakhand carries a distinct temple identity of its own: Dev Bhoomi, the Land of the Gods, home to the Char Dham Himalayan shrines of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri and the Shakti temples of Haridwar.
Darshan hours and daily worship
| Session | Timing (as published) |
|---|---|
| Morning | 6:00 AM |
| Evening | 10:00 PM |
Aarti performed at 7:00 AM and 7:00 PM daily
Poojas and daily rituals
Daily morning and evening aarti
Festivals and special-day timings
Regular darshan hours are usually extended, or set aside entirely, on these dates.
| Festival | Period | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Nanda Ashtami | Eight-day festival culminating in an idol immersion ceremony; the temple's most prominent local festival | |
| Navratri | Major Durga worship period observed with large crowds |
History and architecture
Architecture
Hill-town temple on the northern shore of Naini Lake, with two eye-shaped idols (netra) representing the goddess flanked by a Ganesha shrine
History
Legend holds that Naina Devi is the Shakti Peetha where Sati's eyes fell as Shiva carried her body across the earth, and that the town of Nainital itself takes its name from this ('Naina'). The idol was first installed in 1842 by the devotee Moti Ram Shah. The original structure was destroyed in a landslide in 1880 and rebuilt in 1883, and it stands today on the northern edge of Naini Lake.
Planning your visit
How to reach
About 2 km from Nainital Bus Stand, walkable or reachable by cycle rickshaw along Naini Lake; nearest railway station is Kathgodam, around 35 km away
Where this information comes from
Confidence: Medium. The temple's status as one of the 51 Shakti Peethas is a strong and widely held local/regional tradition (it gave the town its name), but classical Puranic enumerations of the Shakti Peethas more commonly associate the 'eyes' with the separate Naina Devi temple in Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh, so sources disagree on which site holds the canonical claim