Open 6 am to 10 pm; round the clock through Navratra Shardiya Navratri · 11 to 20 Oct 2026 Marble & jaali work, vesara style · since 1974 Darshan free Shoulders & knees covered 70 acres, 20-plus shrines
Marble gopurams rise pink and pale gold above the traffic of South Delhi, spire stacked on spire, further than a single glance can hold. Inside, the courtyards keep coming: shrine after shrine, twenty and more, some raised in the manner of the Tamil south, some in the manner of the Hindi north. At the center, behind doors that open only twice a year, Maa Katyayani Waits in silver and gold. It is a Temple built not by ancient kings, but within living memory, by one man's devotion to Her.
Baba Sant Nagpal Ji, a lifelong devotee of The Divine Mother, raised this Shakti Peeth by hand from wasteland south of Mehrauli, working from 1974 until his death in 1998. His own samadhi now rests within the grounds, in the memorial shrine to Shiv and Maa Gauri he built beside Her.
The inner sanctum where Maa Katyayani Is Enshrined in silver and gold opens to devotees only twice a year, on the nine nights of Chaitra and Shardiya Navratri. For the rest of the year Her doors stay closed, and the complex's other shrines carry the daily worship.
Twenty and more shrines spread across some 70 acres in three linked sections, raised in a mix of South and North Indian Temple styles, in marble and pierced jaali stonework. Only Akshardham, among Delhi's Temples, covers more ground.
A Mother's name, and a devotee who built Her a house
Tradition holds that the sage Katyayan longed for the Goddess to be born as his own daughter, and that She Came to him as Maa Katyayani, sixth among the Navadurga, the nine forms honored through Navratri. It was in this form, the Temple's own telling says, that She Went out against the buffalo-demon Mahishasura. The name Aadya, the primordial, marks Her here as the Goddess before all Her later forms.
The house built for Her at Chhatarpur belongs to no ancient king. Baba Sant Nagpal Ji, a devotee of The Mother from his youth in Karnataka, first raised a small shrine at Arjun Nagar and then an ashram to Maa Durga nearer Chhattarpur village. From the mid-1970s he began clearing an expanse of scrub and wasteland south of Mehrauli by hand, and over two decades that emptiness grew into the sprawl of Temples that stands today. He died in 1998; his samadhi remains on the grounds he cleared, inside the memorial shrine to Shiv and Maa Gauri known as the Nageshwar Mandir.
The trust he founded calls the complex a Shakti Peeth, and its own devotional weight is real: lakhs come at every Navratri, and the langar alone feeds something near a lakh of them in a single day. But it stands apart from the old Śākta geography of the fifty-one or so Shakti Peethas said to mark where pieces of Maa Sati's body fell; no scripture or scholarly list of those ancient seats names Chhatarpur among them. Its Shakti Peeth is a twentieth-century one, and it asks to be visited as what it honestly is: a young, living, and immensely loved house of The Mother.
What you'll actually see
1
The gopurams and the jaali screens
The approach passes tower after tower of pale marble, tiered like a stepped pyramid and cut everywhere with jaali, the fine perforated lattice that lets light and air move through solid stone. A bell hangs in its own carved archway near the gate, ringed by a six-pointed star and a pair of peacocks, struck by pilgrims on their way in.
2
The silver rooms and the sanctum that waits
Behind the shrine of Maa Katyayani lie a sitting room and a Shayan Kaksha, a bedroom, furnished entirely in worked silver: tables, chairs, a bed, a dressing table. These rooms, and the goddess's own sanctum beyond them, are shown to the public only in the two Navratri seasons; the rest of the year they stand closed and cared for.
3
The wishing tree and the samadhi shrine
An old tree at the main entrance carries hundreds of threads, tied by devotees asking for a wish to be kept. Deeper in the complex, past the satsang hall where discourses and bhajans are held, the memorial shrine to Shiv and Maa Gauri called the Nageshwar Mandir holds Baba Sant Nagpal Ji's own samadhi, still visited by those who remember the man who built this ground.
A carved bell hangs in an archway with a six-pointed star and peacocks at Chhatarpur Temple, DelhiPilgrims cross the white marble courtyard of an inner shrine within the Chhatarpur Temple complex, Delhi
The temple bell at its carved gateway, and pilgrims in the marble courtyard of an inner shrine · photos CC BY 2.0 (Manjeet Bawa) and CC BY-SA 4.0 (Akshatha Inamdar), Wikimedia Commons
The festival found nowhere else
Shardiya Navratri · 11 to 20 October 2026
Twice a year, at Chaitra and Shardiya Navratri, the doors behind which Maa Katyayani Waits the rest of the year swing open, and Her murti in silver and gold is shown to whoever has come. The Temple keeps its gates open round the clock through the nine nights, and lakhs arrive, on foot, by metro, by chartered bus from across North India. The trust's kitchens run a langar through the festival that is said to feed close to a lakh people a day. The next Shardiya Navratri opens with Ghatasthapana on Sunday 11 October 2026 and closes with Vijayadashami on Tuesday 20 October 2026.
Go after the first two or three nights if you want to see the sanctum without the very longest queues; Ashtami and Navami nights, when the Temple stays open till dawn, draw the largest crowds of all.
Plan your visit
By air
Indira Gandhi International Airport is about 15 km away, roughly 30 to 40 minutes by taxi depending on traffic.
By metro
Chhatarpur Metro Station on the Yellow Line is about 1 km from the Temple, a 10 to 15 minute walk or a short auto ride.
By road
The Temple sits on Main Chhatarpur Road in the Mehrauli area of South Delhi, close to Dr B. R. Ambedkar Colony.
Timings
Open daily from about 6 am to 10 pm; during both Navratri seasons the Temple stays open round the clock.
Best time
An early weekday morning for a quiet visit to the year-round shrines; the nine nights of Navratri for darshan of Maa Katyayani Herself.
Dress
Modest dress is expected: shoulders and knees covered, no shorts or sleeveless tops. Photography is not permitted inside the shrines.
Entry
Darshan is free throughout the complex; there is no paid or VIP queue.
Aadya, in the Temple's own name, means the primordial or first: an epithet placing Maa Katyayani before all Her later-named forms.
The main sanctum of Maa Katyayani opens to the public only during Chaitra and Shardiya Navratri; on every other day of the year, devotees keep to the complex's other shrines, including a Durga shrine open from morning to evening.
The Temple's grounds border the Northern Aravalli leopard corridor that runs through the Delhi Ridge, so the hills around the complex remain unusually wild for a South Delhi address.
Phones and cameras are best kept away inside the shrine halls; the Temple enforces a no-photography rule at the sanctums.
Questions pilgrims ask
Is Chhatarpur Temple one of the ancient 51 Shakti Peethas?
Not in the classical sense. The old Śākta tradition names roughly fifty-one sites where, the legend holds, a part of Maa Sati's body fell; no scripture or scholarly list of those seats includes Chhatarpur. The name Shri Aadya Katyayani Shakti Peeth is the trust's own devotional description of a Temple built in 1974, and it carries the full weight of that devotion for the lakhs who worship here, even though it is not among the ancient fifty-one.
Can I see the murti of Maa Katyayani on an ordinary visit?
No. The sanctum that houses Her, along with the silver-furnished rooms behind it, opens to the public only during the nine nights of Chaitra and Shardiya Navratri. On other days the complex's remaining shrines, including a daily Durga shrine, Radha Krishna, Ganesh, Rama and Shiva Temples, and the memorial shrine to Shiv and Maa Gauri known as the Nageshwar Mandir, remain open for worship.
Who built this Temple, and when?
Baba Sant Nagpal Ji, a devotee of The Divine Mother from Karnataka, began clearing the site from wasteland in the mid-1970s and continued building through his life until his death in 1998. His samadhi shrine stands within the complex he raised, inside the memorial shrine to Shiv and Maa Gauri known as the Nageshwar Mandir.
Is there an entry fee or a dress code?
Entry is free across the whole complex, with no paid queue. Dress modestly, shoulders and knees covered, and expect a no-photography rule once you are inside any of the shrine halls.
When is the best time to visit?
For quiet darshan of the everyday shrines, an early weekday morning outside festival season. For the Temple at its fullest, the nine nights of Navratri, when the gates stay open round the clock and the sanctum of Maa Katyayani Herself is finally open.
Dharamshalas and guest houses near this Sthan, shared by devotees. Adisthan takes no bookings and no money; contact each stay directly.
No stays are listed here yet. Know one that serves pilgrims well?
Are you with the Shree Adya Katyayani Shakti Peeth Mandir Trust? Claim this page to keep darshan hours, Navratri dates and langar timings true for the devotees of Maa Katyayani.
