Karni Mata Temple

Karni Mata Temple
करणी माता मंदिर
Karni Mata Temple
Religion
Affiliation	Hinduism
District	Bikaner
Deity	Karni Mata
Location
Location	Deshnoke
State	Rajasthan
Country	India
Location in Rajasthan Show map of Rajasthan Karni Mata Temple (India) Show map of India
Geographic coordinates	27°47′26″N 73°20′27″E / 27.79056°N 73.34083°E / 27.79056; 73.34083
Architecture
Type	Rajput
Creator	Maharaja Ganga Singh
Completed	15th - 20th century
Website
https://www.tourism.rajasthan.gov.in/karni-mata-temple.html

Karni Mata Temple of Deshnoke (Hindi: करणी माता मंदिर), also known as Madh Deshnoke, is a prominent Hindu temple dedicated to Karni Mata at the town of Deshnoke, located 30 km south of Bikaner, in Rajasthan. It has become the most important pilgrimage site for devotees of Charani sagatis after access to Hinglaj was restricted following the partition of India. The temple is also a popular destination for tourists and pilgrims and is renowned, both in India and internationally, as the "Temple of Rats" due to the numerous rodents known as kābā which are considered holy and treated with utmost care by devotees. This is sometimes upheld as exemplary of an "environmentally conscious Hindu ethos". The temple draws visitors from across the country for blessings, as well as curious tourists from around the world.^[1][2]

The temple was originally constituted around 1530, after the mahaprayan of Karni Mata. It initially began with the inner sanctum covered by the dome and grew in size with constructions being added by the devotees through the following centuries.^[3]