Up until 2011, the Tirupati Temple held the record for being the costliest Hindu temple in the world and the richest temple in India. The Sree Padmanabha Swami Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, India, outperformed it in terms of wealth that year, though. This was owing to the temple’s secret rooms being unexpectedly discovered; these showed a vast collection of gold, silver, and priceless jewels. This treasure was thought to be worth over £12 billion (around $18 billion at the time).
India had over 649,000 Hindu temples as of 2022, confirming its position as the nation with the highest Hindu population worldwide. Hindus made up a remarkable 78.9% of India’s enormous population, with close to 1.094 billion followers. Additionally, India was home to around 95% of the world’s Hindu population. The majority of followers of Hinduism in India classified as Shaivite or Vaishnavite. With over 79,000 temples at the time, Tamil Nadu, a state in South India, was notable for having the most temples.
Goa, a coastline state, had the most temples per 100,000 people, making it the state with the highest temple density in the nation. In this article, we will discuss about the top 10 richest temple in India.
List of Top 10 Richest Temple in India
Over 500,000 temples can be found in India, a country with a strong religious tradition and significant religious symbols. Many of these temples are regarded as being extremely spiritual and have attracted followers from all around the world due to their reputation for miracles.
Indians have demonstrated a remarkable dedication to upholding and conserving their culture, rituals, and religious traditions—even in the face of modernization. The top 10 wealthiest temples in India are listed below.
1. Padmanabhaswamy Temple
Location: Kerala
Annual Income: INR 1,20,000 Crores
Thiruvananthapuram’s magnificent Padmanabhaswamy Temple is a symbol of decadence. This historic temple is housed in Kerala’s capital city’s East Fort and has a history that dates back to 500 BC. It enjoys the prestigious distinction of being the richest temple not just in India but also globally.
It is thought that a stunning amount of more than one trillion dollars is buried within its holy walls. This temple honouring Lord Vishnu receives rare valuables from devotees, including statues, crowns, jewellery, and priceless gold decorations.
Notably, just the Golden Idol of Mahavishnu is worth 500 crore rupees. This temple is one of the famed 108 Vishnu temples, usually referred to as “Divya Desams,” that are dispersed throughout India. It is the 1st richest temple in India.
2. Guruvayoor Temple
Location: Kerala
Annual Income: INR 2500 Crores
As a revered pilgrimage place in Kerala, Guruvayur Sree Krishna Temple, located in the town of Guruvayoor, is of utmost importance. It is one of South India’s most revered temples, devoted to Lord Vishnu in His Balakrishna Avtar incarnation. It is the 2nd richest temple in India.
Visitors are welcomed by a striking sight in the outer enclosure, or Chuttambalam, accessible by the eastern Nada, the shrine’s main entrance: a towering, 33.5-meter-tall, gold-plated flag pole known as Dwajasthambam. The square Sreekovil, a sanctuary decorated with a distinctive idol carved from a rare blend known as Padala Anjanam, instead of the usual stone or metal idols, is the most fascinating part of the temple.
The principal deity, Lord Krishna, is represented by an idol with four hands, each of which is shown holding a conch, a mace, a discus, and a lotus. This adored manifestation of the Lord is jokingly called Unnikrishnan.
3. Tirupati’s Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple
Location: Andhra Pradesh
Annual Income: INR 650 Crores
The Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Tirupati, which built in the tenth century, is one of the most popular places for religious pilgrims to travel. It is well-known as Tirumala Temple, Tirupati Temple, and Tirupati Balaji Temple, among other titles. It is the 3rd richest temple in India.
This temple has earned its notoriety for both its enormous richness and its spiritual significance. On average, 30,000 visitors to the temple per day give a staggering USD 6 million in donations, according to a government website. This amounts to an astounding 180 million every month, and the numbers keep increasing annually exponentially.
The temple is currently value at over 900 crores and has an incredible collection of 52 tonnes of gold jewels. The temple converts roughly 3000 kg of gold donated by pilgrims into gold reserve deposits with nationalised banks each year as a sign of its affluence.
4. Shri Vaishno Devi Temple
Location: Jammu
Annual Income: INR 500 Crores
The majestic Vaishno Devi Temple in Jammu is only 14 kilometres from Katra and is house inside a million-year-old cave at an amazing altitude of 5,200 feet. The astounding number of nearly 10 million pilgrims who visit this holy place each year has earned it the title of second-most visited temple, after only Tirupati.
Vaishno Devi, often referred to as Mata Rani and revered as the home of Goddess Vaishnavi, is a beautiful representation of the Hindu goddess Durga. Numerous other goddesses visit the Holy cave to honor Mata Rani during poojas and aartis. It is the 4th richest temple in India.
The goddess herself, in the opinion of devotees, summons them to begin this spiritual journey. The temple has an astonishing collection of 1.2 tonnes of gold, which donated over a five-year period in the form of hundreds of kilogrammes of gold. The temple is among the wealthiest in India and get donations of INR 500 crores each year.
5. Golden Temple
Location: Amritsar
Annual Income: INR 500 Crores
One of India’s most important spiritual places is the Golden Temple, also known as Sri Harmandir Sahib. It is the most sacred site in Sikhism and exudes a spirit of holiness and religious fervour. Its divine nature is difficult to express in words since it must be experience personally. It is the 5th richest temple in India.
By giving away free meals to more than 100,000 people from various backgrounds, this revered shrine exemplifies the Sikh philosophy of seva (selfless service) and welcomes worshippers from all religions. Maharaja Ranjit Singh rebuilt the temple in 1830 using only marble and gold following a stormy period marked by demolitions.
An unfathomable sense of tranquilly is evoke by the sight of this magnificent shrine, which is tuck away in the tank’s middle. The Amrit Sarovar, the sacred pool encircling the glittering central shrine, is the spiritual core of the huge complex known as Harmandir Sahib or Darbar Sahib for Sikhs, even if the main Temple serves as its focal point.
6. Shirdi Sai Baba
Location: Nashik
Annual Income: INR 320 Crores
Shirdi is the home of Sai Baba of Shirdi, who is adore by millions of followers all over the world for his kindness towards the poor. Shirdi, in the Maharashtra district of Ahmednagar, is around 122 kilometres from Nasik and is significant as Sai Baba’s spiritual home. Sai Baba is known to come in Shirdi in 1858 and spent 60 years of his life serving this community before finding redemption in 1918.
Surprisingly, the Sai Baba temple has raked in an astounding sum of more than Rs 2,000 crores. According to reports, the temple has a bank account with almost Rs 1,800 crores in it as well as a substantial collection of assets, including 4,428 kilogrammes of silver and 380 kilogrammes of gold.
The temple also has a considerable amount of cash in the shape of several currencies, including dollars and pounds. These astounding numbers certainly place this temple among the top contenders for the title of richest temple in India. It is the 6th richest temple in India.
7. Sabarimala Temple
Location: Kerala
Annual Income: INR 245 Crores
Every year, a tremendous number of pilgrims drawn to Sabarimala by its aura of religion. It is the largest temple in India and the second largest in the world, after the Hajj Pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, with an annual footfall of over 30 million tourists.
Sabarimala is a temple town tuck away on the banks of the river Pampa in Kerala’s picturesque Periyar Tiger Reserve, in the Pathanamthitta district. Legends around the temple’s wealth indicate that it is considering using robots for service, which seems plausible given its projected fortune. It is the 7th richest temple in India.
When illuminate, the temple’s massive lamp pillars, known as Deepsthambam, which stand at a height of 7 meters and are stud with thirteen circular receptacles, provide a spellbinding spectacle. To visit this temple dedicated to Lord Ayappa, more than a million people travel on pilgrimage. It has a stunning annual income of Rs 105 crores and a collection of more than 15 kilograms of gold.
8. Sri Jagannath Puri Temple
Location: Puri
Annual Income: INR 150 Crores
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The Jagannath Temple honours Lord Jagannath, a venerated manifestation of Lord Vishnu, and is located in the charming town of Puri, Odisha. A remarkable detail about this temple is that Lord Jagannath is list as the owner of a sizable 30,000 acres of land, making him the richest landowner. The Jagannath Temple, the pride of India, built by King Indradyumna in the 11th century and is of utmost importance.
It is important to note that during the Suna Besha ceremony, the deities are decorat with an astounding 209 kilogrammes of gold, despite the fact that the actual estimation of its gold richness is still unknown. Hindu pilgrims adore this majestic temple above all others as the sacred home of Lord Jagannath, a cherished manifestation of Lord Vishnu.
Along with Badrinath, Dwarka, and Rameshwaram, it is list as one of the Char Dham Yatra’s holiest sites. The magnificent Oriya architecture of the Jagannath Puri Temple adds to its splendour and heightens its grandeur. It is the 8th richest temple in India.
9. Siddhi Vinayak Temple
Location: Mumbai
Annual Income: INR 125 Crores
The Siddhivinayak Temple, a venerated Ganesha shrine located in the Prabhadevi neighbourhood, is one of Mumbai’s most well-known and often visited temples. The temple receives a startling number of visitors daily—between 25,000 and 2 lakhs. Lord Ganesha is house beneath a glorious gold ceiling, and the temple has gathered an amazing collection of 158 kilogrammes of gold offerings, which are currently worth at USD 67 million.
With an estimated annual collection of 125 hundred crores, the temple enjoys the distinction of being the richest in Mumbai thanks to its profusion of money. The carefully secured vaults on the grounds of the temple are still completely off-limits to the general public. It is the 9th richest temple in India.
Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, is one of the celebrities who frequently visit the temple. Laxman Vithu and Deubai Patil, who were childless themselves, undertook the admirable project of building the Siddhivinayak Temple in 1801. It is in order to grant the wishes of other infertile ladies.
10. Mahabodhi Temple
Location: Bodhgaya
Annual Income: INR 106 Crores
The Mahabodhi Temple, also known as “Great Awakening Temple,” is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Bodhgaya, Bihar. It is a respected Buddhist temple that is of utmost importance. Because it is the location where Lord Buddha is credit with achieving enlightenment.
The renowned Emperor Ashoka visited Bodh Gaya somewhere in the year 260 BC, enhancing the city’s historical and cultural significance. As the ninth and most recent incarnation of Lord Vishnu to have graced the planet. Lord Buddha holds a prominent place in India’s religious history. The temple is an astounding 4.8 hectares in size and rises 55 meters above the ground.
The Bodhi Tree, which lies next to the temple is thought to be a direct descendent of the original tree. Under which Lord Gautam Buddha meditated, acquired enlightenment, and shared his profound philosophy of life, is of great significance. It is the 10th richest temple in India.
Conclusion
The top 10 richest temple in India are examples of the nation’s enormous wealth and devotion to religion. Astonishing amounts of riches, in the form of gold, jewels, and offerings from devotees, are kept in these temples. It includes the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple, Tirupati Balaji Temple, and Vaishno Devi Temple.
These temples serve as symbols of the continuing generosity of worshippers as well as the deeply ingrained religious traditions. They represent it through their majestic construction, spiritual value, and abundant financial resources. Millions of pilgrim’s flocks to India’s numerous temples, which also greatly enhance the country’s cultural and economic life.