Naimisaranya

This is where the Srimad Bhagavatam was spoken. It is said that a pilgrimage to Badrinath and Kedarnath is incomplete without a visit to Naimisaranya. In the Mahabharata it is said, “Anyone who fasts, prays, and attains perfection at Naimisaranya finds happiness in all the worlds.” When Lord Brahma contemplated a great wheel that would span the entire universe, the wheel’s center was at xe "Naimisaranya" Naimisaranya.

Naimisaranya has a parikrama (circumambulation) path of 16km, in which all the sacred places in India are believed to be located. Lord Balarama, Dadhici Muni, the Pandavas, Prabhu Nityananda, and Ramanujacharya all came here. The Pandavas are said to have come here when they were in exile.

This is the place where the demigods came to ask Dadhici for his body, to be able to create a weapon that would be able to kill the demon Vritrasura. Lord Rama is said to have performed a sacrifice here for killing Ravana.

It is said that if you bathe in Chakra-tirtha Kund and make an offering to the presiding deity, Lalita, on a full moon day that falls on a Monday, you will wash away all the sins committed in a lifetime. About 10,000 people come for this.

Lalita Devi, the presiding female deity of Naimisaranya, is said to grant fulfillment of desires. Chakra Tirtha Kund At the junction of Dwapara and Kali-yuga, 80,000 sages headed by Saunaka Rishi wanted to perform a sacrifice to hold off the effects of the oncoming age of Kali. They asked Lord Brahma where they should hold the sacrifice, and he told them he would send his disc to the earth and they should perform the sacrifice where it hit. It struck the earth at Naimisaranya. The disc passed through the earth at this spot, Chakra-tirtha.

The Bhagavat Purana says there is no holy place on earth that compares to this one. Chakra-tirtha is said to be the center of the universe. It is said that the large sweet-water spring that marks the location of Chakra-tirtha has no bottom.

Vyasa Gaddi Close to Chakra-tirtha is where Vedavyasa is said to have divided the Vedas into four parts and written the Puranas. There is a big banyan tree here which is said to be over 5,000 years old and the place where Vyasa sat. In the temple there is a deity of Vyasadeva.