Galta Ji : Monkey temple in the mountains

Pink City has been wearing beautiful colour, and welcoming its visitor with great love, compassion and care for long time and giving some of the best tourist places to visit and enjoy. One of the best and beautiful places to visit in Jaipur is Galtaji.

Location of Galta Ji

Galtaji is the most popular Hindu pilgrimage site in Jaipur. It was built during 18th century by Diwan Rao Kriparam; this temple is situated 10 km away from Jaipur. Beautiful Aravalli Hills is surrounded this temple and intense green forests assist in keeping temperature of this place modest.

History of Galta Ji

According to mythological stories, Saint Galav who was a believer of god used to meditate here. After Galav finished 100 important years in meditation, the Gods blessed this area with plenty of water. As a tribute to this sacred follower of god, a temple was made with seven holy kunds or ponds. Galta Kund is the most holy among these 7 kunds and it never gets waterless.

Galta Monkey Temple

During every Makar Sankranti, followers from different places gather in Galtaji temple and take a sacred dip in kunds. As said by Hindu religious beliefs taking dip in kunds sweeps away all one’s misdeeds.The holy place of Galtaji always stays enclosed by groups of monkeys. These monkeys are the enduring residents of Galtaji. Therefore, Galtaji is frequently known as Galta Monkey Temple.

Architectural layout of the temple

The Galtaji Temple is situated in Aravalli hills and is surrounded by trees and bushes. This remarkable building is decorated with coloured walls, rounded roofs and pillars. Aside from the kunds, there are several temples situated within the Galtaji complex like Lord Krishna, Lord Ram and Lord Hanuman.

Things to do

There are hundreds of monkeys living here – aggressive and violent macaques and more elegant langurs. One can buy peanuts from the gate to give them, but visitors must be cautious as they can be attacked by teeth-barring apes.

The temple has a several sacred tanks, in which some brave visitors jump from adjacent cliffs. The water is extremely deep and fed from the spring which falls from the mouth of the sculpted cow.

Best time to visit

One can visit every year in mid-January, on the occasion of Makar Sankranti to take a holy dip in kund. The visiting hours are from sunrise to sunset i.e. 5:00 AM - 9:00 PM.

Location: Shri Galta Peetham, Galva Ashrama, Jaipur, Rajasthan, 302013, India