Galtaji, also called as monkey temple, is situated in Jaipur and is lured by all kinds of tourists be it religious tourists, spiritual travellers, history buffs, travel enthusiasts, as well as people who love to observe pristine places and surroundings blessed by nature’s fauna and flora!
Why it is called as Monkey Temple
Galtaji is called the Monkey Temple because of the vast majority of macaque monkeys found here. Even Net Geo shot a documentary series in 2008 about the monkeys in the Galtaji named “Monkey thieves”. Soon after the series, the Galta ji temple became famous as the Monkey Temple of Jaipur.
History of Galtaji temple
Galtaji is a pre-historic Hindu pilgrimage site built by Diwan Rao kriparam during the eighteenth century. Kriparam was the courtier of Sawai Jai Singh 2nd of Jaipur.
Legends say that saint Galav Rishi spent his life in search of truth and did ‘Tapasya’ here in Galtaji for many years. The God, pleased with his penance, appeared before him and blessed his place of worship with abundant water.
This exists today as Galta Kund which is a holy water tank and the water here never dries. Taking bath in this holy galta kund is considered as sacred.
A temple was built here to honour the saint Galav Rishi and it was named as Galtaji.
The temple also finds mentioning in Ram Charit Manas.