7 Temples In India Where Animals Are Worshipped

Indians have worshipped animals and plants for millennia, so it is no wonder that the country is strewn with temples dedicated to animals or where animal forms of deities are worshipped. These temples represent the Indian philosophy of "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam," or " the world is one family." It is one of the major reasons why Indians accept the presence of wild animals, including mega-carnivores and mega-herbivores, around their homes, villages, and cities. 

A Waghoba temple in Maharashtra. Image credit: A. J. T. Johnsingh, WWF-India and NCF via Wikimedia Commons.

Go to any Indian temple, and you will find it a sanctuary for many animals. Monkeys, especially rhesus macaques and langurs, are a common sight in many such temples, and if it is one dedicated to Hanuman like the Sankat Mochan temple of Varanasi, then monkeys rule there! In places where Lord Shiva is worshipped, such as Varanasi's Kashi Vishwanath temple, massive bulls roam the streets since the bull is the vehicle of Lord Shiva. Other than these known facts, here are some lesser-known places of worship in India where animals are worshipped or revered. 

Karni Mata Temple - Rats

Rats feeding on milk at Karni Mata Temple, Deshnoke, Rajasthan. Image credit: Mauro Gambini via Flickr.com.

Located in the small town of Deshnoke in Bikaner, Rajasthan, you will find a wonder like no other. A temple of rats! The Karni Mata Temple, a major pilgrimage spot in the area, also draws tourists from far and wide who come to see this unique temple's most baffling feature - the many rats scuttering along everywhere your sight goes. The rats are regarded as holy here and worshipped. According to legend, these rats are reincarnations of the deity Karni Mata and her family members and, hence, are highly revered by the temple devotees. Food leftovers eaten by these rats are considered very sacred and consumed by the temple devotees. The sighting of the white rat is considered to be reserved for the most fortunate as these rats are believed to be the reincarnated form of the deity Karni Mata herself and her four favourite nephews. If anyone accidentally kills a rat in the temple by stepping on it, the person must repent by delivering a rat made of gold or silver to the temple.

Waghoba Temples - Tiger

Waghoba shrine in Aarey Milk Colony, Mumbai. 

If you get to visit a Warli tribal village in Maharashtra, be prepared to meet their deity, both in the form of stone and clay sculptures and as a living being. These tribals worship the big cat deity, Waghona, and actually share habitat with leopards and/or tigers. However, you need not travel to a remote location to meet the Waghoba and his devotees. Just go to the metropolis of Mumbai and get the help of a local naturalist guide to visit the Aarey Milk Colony. Here, there are small tribal hamlets called padas of the Indigenous Warli tribals with temples and shrines dedicated to the Waghoba. These people pray to the Waghoba to protect the forest for them, as the forest is their source of life and livelihood. Every year, they celebrate Waghbaras, a festival dedicated to their tiger/leopard God, where they pray to Waghoba, sing, dance, and feast. According to legend, Waghoba was a child born to a community woman out of wedlock who later shapeshifted to become the tiger that started devouring the village people. The villagers later formed a pact with the tiger's mother to worship Waghoba and offer sacrifices so that the Waghoba would not cause any harm to them or their livestock. The cultural institution of the Waghoba thus helped the Warlis accept the presence of tigers and leopards around them, and hence, you get to see these animals in forests inhabited by these tribals even today, including the famous leopards of Mumbai.

Snake Temples/Shrines - Snakes

Snakes worship in Anekal, Karnataka. Image credit: Natesh Ramasamy via Flickr.com.

Every herpetologist's dream comes true in the rainforests of Karnataka's Western Ghats. If you love herping, one of the best places to visit is the Agumbe rainforest and surrounding areas near the coastal city of Mangalore, Karnataka. The rainforests here thrive with a rich diversity of herpetofauna (reptiles and amphibians), including many species of venomous snakes like the King Cobra! Here, you will come across many temples or shrines dedicated to worshipping snakes. The locals here have worshipped snakes for generations, allowing them to coexist with these animals. Snakes can be seen sculpted on the exteriors of these temples, while stone or mud sculptures of snakes, especially the hooded cobra and the multi-headed mythical Sheshnag, are most commonly worshipped as deities. 

Varaha Temple - Wild Boar

The Varaha sculpture in Khajuraho. Image credit: Ms Sarah Welch via Wikimedia Commons.

In the temple town of Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh, there is a gigantic monolithic sculpture of a wild boar. It represents the varaha or boar avatar of Lord Vishnu. Legend says that when a demon captured the Earth Goddess or Bhudevi and took her to the bottom of the cosmic ocean, Lord Vishnu appeared in the Varaha form and battled the demon to rescue Bhudevi. After slaying the demon, the Varaha carried Bhudevi on his tusks out of the ocean and placed her in her rightful position. 

Today, the Varaha Temple worships the Varaha, whose heavily carved sculpture is truly a masterpiece of ancient Indian art and architecture. The temple is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site and can be visited by tourists.

Urumbachan Kottam - Ants

An ant. Image credit: William Cho via Wikimedia Commons.

Yes, even ants have their own privileged place in the Indian religious belief system. And why not? These tiny, busy creatures are such a vital part of the ecosystem. So, a shrine has been dedicated to ants in Kuttikkakom in the Kannur district of Kerala. According to legend, the locals were building a Ganpathy temple in the area but an anthill formed at the position where a marker was placed to mark the location of the temple and the marker was found elsewhere. This event was taken as a divine sign, and the Ganapathy temple was built at the new site, while a shrine dedicated to ants was built at the site of the anthill. Although there is no deity as such, and the shrine exists in the form of a platform with a lamp, devotees arrive from far and wide to pray to ants to ensure that ants do not cause any disturbance to them in their homes. The food offerings at the Ganpathy temple are served to ants, and coconuts are broken at the shrine to allow the water to flow down so ants can enjoy it. This worship system also shows the significance of relatively small creatures in the ecosystem. It shows that humans are but a part of such a system where revering every other creature is vital.

Pazhayannur Bhagavathy - Rooster

The Pazhayannur Bhagavathy Temple. Image credit: Aruna at Malayalam Wikipedia via Wikimedia Commons.

Rooster rule in this Kerala temple near in Thrissur. Here, the temple ground is full of freely roaming roosters numbering around 800. It is said that an ancient king was a devotee of Goddess Bhagavathi, the temple's main deity. To protect him and his subjects, the Goddess took the form of a rooster and accompanied the King. Thus, roosters are highly revered by the devotees in the temple. The devotees make offerings to feed these birds. The local people have also accepted the presence of these birds, and some have even grown bonds with some of these birds. In the evenings, these birds are let into coops outside the temple and again let free in the morning.

Channapatna Temple - Dog

A dog with a tilak and garland. Image credit: Ritesh Man Tamrakar via Flickr.com.

Well, can India worship so many other animals and not a human's best friend? Not possible, right? So, India does have not one but several temples where dogs are worshipped, like a 100-year-old temple in the Secunderabad town of Uttar Pradesh and the Parassini Temple in Kannur, Kerala. Both temples celebrate the love and loyalty associated with the human-canine bond. In the former, a saint and his dog who once lived in the area are worshipped as deities today. In the latter, the main deity, Lord Muthappa, is known to be a dog lover. Thus, the temple has dog sculptures that are worshipped, and live dogs are provided food and care on the temple grounds. People also come to the temple with their pet dogs for their dogs' naming ceremonies.

Hopefully, you enjoyed reading this list of unique temples in India. If you know of any temples that should be added to this list, please comment below.