Narayani Mata Temple

Narayani Mata Temple is a goddess shrine in Alwar district, reached by a road that passes Tehla Lake. It dates from the 11th century and is built in the Pratihara style, with a fort-like gateway at the entrance. Tradition says that India's first sati took place here: when Narayani's husband died of a snakebite on a journey, she prayed to Shiva, who sent a sacred fire that took them both. The practice is now banned.

The idol sits in the sanctum, and the hall before it is hung with hundreds of bells offered by devotees, while red gota-trimmed dupattas are knotted along the railings. A natural spring rises beside the temple and fills a marble kund in front of it before flowing on for about three kilometres. Its constant flow in this semi-arid land has never been fully explained, and pilgrims bathe in it and carry the water home, treating it as being as holy as the Ganga.