Mahalakshmi Temple, Mumbai

The Mahalakshmi Temple stands on a hillock at Breach Candy in South Mumbai and is one of the city's best-known shrines. The main deity is Mahalakshmi, the goddess of wealth and consort of Vishnu, worshipped together with Mahakali and Mahasaraswati. Its origins go back to the 18th century.

The story is linked to the works that joined Worli to Malabar Hill. The three images had been sunk in Worli Creek to hide them from invaders. When the sea kept washing away the causeway, the engineer Ramji Shivji Prabhu dreamt that the goddess asked him to recover the images and place them on the hillock; once he did, the link was finished, and he built the temple. Crowds are heaviest at Navratri, Diwali and Akshaya Tritiya. The temple trust also runs a free weekly dispensary offering allopathy, ayurveda and homeopathy, and gives scholarships and disaster relief.