Indians pray at visa temples to go abroad
- Published
Millions of Indians regularly visit temples and religious sites to pray and seek divine help in fulfilling their wishes.
Most pray for a child or well being of their loved ones, but in recent years, some unusual temples have come up, including a few that offer divine help in procuring a visa.
This 150-year-old Sikh gurdwara (temple) in Talhan village in the northern Indian state of Punjab is the go-to place for thousands of Sikhs wanting to travel out of India.
Many believe that praying at the Shaheed Baba Nihal Singh gurdwara will improve their chances of securing a visa.
The devotees often bring offerings of toy aeroplanes as they believe it will boost their chances of travel and a number of shops outside the gurdwara sell these toys.
The Chilkur Balaji Temple in the southern state of Telangana is another shrine where tens of thousands of people go to pray to the "Visa God".
The temple, dedicated to Lord Balaji, is one of the oldest temples near the city of Hyderabad and attracts a lot of computer professionals.
The temple became popular about two decades ago when some computer software professionals who prayed here got visas to travel to the United States.
The temple is open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and on those days, reports say between 70,000 and 100,000 devotees visit the shrine.