In the holy city of Gaya in Bihar, on the bank of the Falgu river, stands the Vishnupad temple, revered as enshrining the sacred footprint of Lord Vishnu, impressed, tradition holds, upon a rock when the Lord subdued the demon Gayasura. The footprint (Dharmashila) is the heart of the shrine, its present grand structure raised by the queen Ahilyabai Holkar in the eighteenth century.
Gaya is famed above all as the foremost place in India for the rites of pinda-daan and shraddha for departed ancestors, and pilgrims come from across the land to perform these sacred offerings at the Vishnupad and along the Falgu. Vishnupad of Gaya is among the most venerable Vishnu shrines of the east.
