01Baba Nagpal’s temple
Katyayani is the sixth of the nine forms of Durga worshipped in Navratri, the daughter of the rishi Katyayana, and the gopis of Vraja worshipped her to win Shri Krishna. Baba Sant Nagpal Ji, a devotee of the Devi, began the temple here in 1974 on what was then open land, and it grew over the following decades into many shrines, with temples of Rama, Krishna, Shiva and Hanuman among them. The main sanctum holds the Devi richly dressed in a chamber of silver-work; the marble walls are cut into jali screens in the style of the Rajasthan and Gujarat temples. Baba Nagpal Ji’s samadhi is in the complex.
02Navratri crowds
At Navratri the complex is lit up and lakhs of devotees come through in nine days; langar is served throughout, and volunteers run the queues through the marble courts late into the night. The ashtami and navami days, when young girls are worshipped as the Devi in kanya pujan, are the busiest. A tall murti of Hanuman stands in the grounds, and a large hall can seat thousands for kirtan.
The life of this place
- 1974Baba Sant Nagpal Ji founds the temple.
Near Chhatarpur Metro station on the Yellow Line, on the Mehrauli–Gurugram road.
