The ProperPandit journal
Articles on Vedic astrology, devotion, and rituals.
50 articles · Page 2 of 5
Terms & traditions
The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir at 61 Claireville Drive, Toronto, is free to enter. BAPS's official timings page, checked on 21 Oct 2026, lists the campus as open 9 am to 6:30 pm, with Rajbhog Arti at 11:15 am and Sandhya Arti at 6:30 pm. The complex has a stone mandir, a carved wooden haveli and a heritage museum.
Vrat & festivals
Dhanteras falls on Friday 6 November 2026, opening the five days of Diwali. Here are the evening puja windows for New Delhi, London, New York, Toronto and Dubai, plus Dhanvantari, the Yama Deepam lamp and the custom of buying metal.
Vrat & festivals
Diwali Lakshmi Puja falls on Sunday 8 November 2026 in all seven cities we checked across India, the USA, the UK, Canada and the UAE. The evening window differs by city, and Govardhan Puja and Bhai Dooj land a day earlier in London and New York than in New Delhi.
Terms & traditions
The temple trust says it charges no fee for darshan or aarti passes. Its published free darshan slots, the three aarti times, where to reserve a pass, and how to avoid anyone selling 'VIP' entry.
Terms & traditions
Every visitor to the BAPS Hindu Mandir in Abu Dhabi must pre-register individually on mandir.ae, and only after arriving in the UAE. Bring a physical Emirates ID or passport. The mandir is closed on Mondays and open 9 am to 8 pm Tuesday to Sunday, with an evening Ganga Aarti.
Planning a puja
Outside India, the most common way to book a Hindu priest for a home puja is through a local temple's priest services desk: a form or phone call, a few days' to a few weeks' notice, a published fee or a quote, and samagri you usually buy yourself. Real temple policies from the USA, Canada and the UK show how it works.
Terms & traditions
Registration for the Uttarakhand Char Dham Yatra is compulsory and free. It is done on the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board's portal, its app, an official WhatsApp service or a registration centre. Here is how it works, and how to spot a fake.
Terms & traditions
Fake websites copying TTD, Puri, Kashi Vishwanath and Somnath have taken money from pilgrims. How to check a booking site before you pay, a list of official portals, and what to do if you have already paid.
Terms & traditions
The Ganesh Temple at 45-57 Bowne Street, Flushing, is open 8:00 am to 8:30 pm on weekdays and 7:30 am to 8:30 pm at weekends, with a canteen open daily from 8:30 am. Here is what the temple's own pages say about dress, phones, parking, the daily pooja schedule and booking a service.
Terms & traditions
Highgate Hill Murugan Temple on Archway Road is open every day, 8 am to 2 pm and 5 pm to 9 pm, with poojas in the morning and from 5 pm to 8 pm. Abisekams are booked through the temple office. Here is what its official site says, what it leaves out, and how East Ham's Murugan temple differs.
Terms & traditions
Nagara temples have a curving tower over the sanctum, Dravida temples a stepped pyramid inside walls entered through gopurams, and Vesara is a contested name for the mixed Deccan style. A guide to the parts you will see and how to recognise each style.
Terms & traditions
Ellora's Kailasa (Cave 16) was carved for the Rashtrakuta king Krishna I in the eighth century, according to a copper-plate grant of 812–13 CE. Masons isolated a block of basalt with deep trenches and carved it from the top down. Here is what the record shows, what scholars estimate, and how the '200 years' and 'alien' claims compare.
Articles are for general information, researched from public sources, and may contain errors. Please follow your family pandit's guidance.