Tirtha Atlas

The sacred geography of the Indic world — every site mapped, dated, storied, and cited.

3031 sites15 countries4 traditions30 centuries
Early modern · Hindu · India

Mahakal Temple, Darjeeling

Observatory Hill, Darjeeling, West Bengal · 27.0478°, 88.2680°

Shiva (Mahakal)Undetermined
Sacred since
1782 CE
first attestation / structure
Standing structure
1782
Undetermined

History & significance

A hilltop shrine of Shiva above Darjeeling, raised in 1782 by Lama Dorjey Rinzing on the site of the Dorje-Ling monastery of 1765 from which the town takes its name. Hindu and Buddhist worship are carried on together at the same site.

Sthala katha — the traditional account

What follows is the temple’s own traditional account, transmitted through liturgy and local memory. It is recorded here as tradition, not as attested history.

Three Shiva lingams standing for Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are said to have manifested themselves on the hill in 1782.

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Sources

coordinates: wikipedia-2026-08-28 · sources retrieved 2026-08-26 · dynasty page: Undetermined