Mansa Devi Temple

Mansa Devi Temple crowns Bilwa Parvat above Haridwar, one of the Siddha Peethas and part of the city's Panch Tirth pilgrimage cluster tied to the Ganga's descent to the plains. The sanctum's central image is unusual for having both a three-faced, five-armed conception and a secondary single-faced icon, both worshipped as manifestations of Mansa Devi, said to fulfil wishes (mansa). The current temple buildings are largely twentieth-century construction with limited claim to great antiquity, but the site's continuous role in Haridwar's sacred geography and its panoramic views over the Ganga and the town below have made it one of the most-visited hill shrines in the region, reached by a ropeway that is itself a minor engineering landmark for pilgrim access.