Beyond Gurugram’s office towers, a map of its temple spires

The names of Shree Roopchand Advocate and Srimati Champa Devi are cut into marble at Kabir Mandir in Gurugram’s Sadar Bazar, alongside their donations of ₹75,000 and ₹2,121. Inside, the 15th-century poet-saint’s idol sits in a white-tiled chamber behind iron grilles, with yellow flowers and a sun painted on the wall.

The temple is one stop in a network of religious spaces that runs through the Millennium City’s crowded older neighbourhoods and newer sectors. A short walk away, Radha Krishna Mandir stands in a courtyard ringed by homes. Its walls have taaks, the recessed niches of older local architecture, while a gallery circles the central shrine and a velvet crib is kept for baby Krishna.

Courtyards and trees

Guru Ravidas Temple, also in Sadar Bazar, has a broad courtyard and a peepal tree rising through its roof. Sacred red kalava threads wind around the trunk, which shelters a black idol of Shani Devta. In Sector 14, daylight through the jaalis at Shree Krishna Mandir casts patterned shadows across the floor; a neem stands in its unusually large courtyard.

At Parshvanath Digambar Jain Temple in Rakabpura, glass tiles cover the ceiling around a central chandelier. Wall paintings depict Jain religious scenes, and the lower-level meditation chamber is generally quiet.

A view from Ghata

Bani Mandir sits on a hill above Ghata village. Its shrines occupy a small plateau reached by a climb, with the village’s houses, lanes, courtyards and buffaloes below. Beyond them, Gurugram’s commercial towers appear through the haze.

Sheetla Mata Temple remains a destination for families seeking blessings for unwell children. Pilgrims had long travelled to the town with sick children, drawn by the traditional belief that the goddess cures fevers, including smallpox.

The city’s newer towers may dominate the horizon, but these courtyards, trees and spires remain part of Gurugram’s everyday map.