Overview
- Features: A sacred site comprising of a temple complex and water tanks, where Hindu pilgrims come to bathe, and monkeys inhabit due to the abundance of water and food
- Opening Times: Dawn to dusk, daily
- Best Time to Visit: Diwali (end Oct – beg Nov) and Makar Sankranti (beg – mid Jan)
- Duration: 2 to 3 hours
- Travelled By: Auto rickshaw
- Cost: Donation of Rs 50
- Address: Galta Ji, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
- Type: Temple
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Summary
If you’re in Jaipur or heading there shortly and have a day to spare, take a side trip to Monkey Temple in Galtaji. Before you go, read this article which contains a brief history of Monkey Temple Jaipur as well as all the details you’ll need to plan your trip to this major tourist attraction outside Jaipur.
How to Visit the Playful Monkeys at Monkey Temple Jaipur
History of Galta Monkey Temple Jaipur (aka Galtaji Temple)
While it is popularly known among Western tourists as the Monkey Temple (which translated into Hindi is Galwar Bagh), it is better known among the locals as Galtaji.
The Monkey Temple is actually a large complex of several temples surrounded by many water tanks. It is a sacred place where Hindu pilgrims come to bathe in the holy water found in these tanks, and then make offerings and pray in the temples nearby.
As the temple complex is built within a mountain pass in the Aravalli Hills and set around a natural spring, the water gets collected in these water tanks. It is considered auspicious to bathe in these water tanks, and thousands of Hindus make the pilgrimage each year, especially during the festivals of Diwali (end Oct – beg Nov) and Makar Sankranti (beg to mid Jan).
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The main temple was built in pink stone by Diwan Rao Kriparam, a courtier of Sawai Jai Singh II, in the 18th century. The temple complex features a number of pavilions with rounded roofs, carved pillars and painted walls.
The main tank is situated in front of the main temple and is called the Galta Kund. It is supposed to be the holiest and never dries up. This tank is divided into two pools, one on the upper level and another on the lower level. The upper level pool, is used for bathing by men, while the lower pool is used by women only.
How to Visit the Playful Monkeys at Monkey Temple Jaipur
The Monkey Temple is situated about 10 kms east from the city of Jaipur and is one of the few attractions not based in the Old City. The best way to get here is by auto rickshaw or taxi. We took an auto rickshaw which charged us Rs 200 for the return journey back to the Old City. We always made sure we negotiated the price (if there was no meter!!) before we jumped into any auto rickshaws or taxis. It took us about 30 mins to get there early in the morning.
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We happened to get a really nice auto rickshaw driver. When we got to the beginning of the walk up to the Monkey Temple, he bought a packet of nuts and distributed some to Graham so he could feed the monkeys in the area.
What surprised me was the fact that these monkeys are extremely tame and will politely take the peanuts from your hand and eat it in front of you rather than grabbing them and running off. Later on, I realised why!
There are two types of monkeys that inhabit the area around the Monkey Temple – the rhesus macaques and the languars. An easy way to differentiate between them is the rhesus macaques have pink faces, while the languars have black faces. The ones we fed and saw along the way were the rhesus macaques who are actually quite tame by nature, rather than the languars who are aggressive and rather wild.
There seemed to be more monkeys at the bottom of the walkway and along the walkway rather than at the top where the Monkey Temple is situated. I suspect that in the hot, dry summer months, they will congregate near the water tanks rather than being spread out as they were on the day.
The monkeys of Monkey Temple are rather famous. They were featured in National Geographic’s Rebel Monkeys series and “Thar Desert – Sacred sand” episode of Wildest India Series. I’ve watched the latter series, which I found to be a very interesting documentary on India.
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We were really lucky to make the trip up to Monkey Temple the day after Diwali, the biggest festival of India. Not aware that this is a pilgrimage site for pious Hindus, we noticed several women walking alongside us up the pathway, carrying bags full of wheat husks that they would occasionally drop at the side of the road for the monkeys.
As we walked up the pathway, there were some interesting sights to behold. By far the strangest one was a holy man with a cow – not any ordinary cow, but one with a fetus of another cow growing from its back. I was totally repulsed by the view and kept walking – no photos of that please!
Apart from plenty of monkeys to keep us entertained along the way, we also saw a batch of cows outside the house of some Hindu priests. Being our second day in India, this was really interesting. However, as we spent more and more time in India, we saw cows as well as monkeys everywhere, and they became a pain in the butt rather than an interesting sight.
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As we hiked further up the mountain, the more crowded the track became until we got to the Sun Temple which is halfway up the road to the Monkey Temple. We initially thought this was the Monkey Temple and wandered inside, only to realise later that the ladies walking with us had kept walking further up as the path veered to the right.
The Sun Temple is built on the highest peak in the town of Galta. It is dedicated to Surya, the Sun God in Hinduism, and was built in the 18th century. Being located about midway this made for a good place to take a break and enjoy the fantastic views. There were a few people praying inside and no one seemed to mind as we wandered around the temple.
There is a water container outside the temple quarters which is very popular with the monkeys that wander around the area. A nearby tree also makes a good spot for the monkeys to hang around the area.
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On arriving at the Monkey Temple, there are several tanks around – seven to be precise. As we walked through the entrance gate, a Hindu priest asked us for a donation and pointed to a sign that said we had to pay Rs 50 per person. All in good faith (no pun intended), we made our donation and walked inside and down to the main temple and the water tank.
The sight in front of us took our breath away, as there were several hundred men and women bathing in the tanks around the main temple. The water did look a little dirty by Western standards, however hundreds of people bathing in one place would do that to any water body.
There weren’t a lot of monkeys in this area as they were probably scared off by the sheer mass of pilgrims. Those monkeys that still decided to stick around were mostly sitting on the windows in the main temple.
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As we wandered on further, we saw that the temple complex was quite extensive, with a series of temples standing on either side of the path. There were numerous more pilgrims here, making their offerings and prayers inside the temples. As a rule, non-Hindus are not allowed inside Hindu temples so we could only climb up the stairs to the top of the temple but could not enter inside. Nevertheless, the view from the top of the stairs was panoramic as we could see the entire complex from here.
We ended up spending a couple of hours walking around the complex and enjoyed watching the pilgrims performing their rituals. While it is possible to take a taxi to the front of the Monkey Temple, we thoroughly enjoyed our walk up the mountain as we got to feed the monkeys and interact with the locals and pilgrims along the way.
Tell us what you think. Are you planning a trip to Monkey Temple Jaipur? If you’ve been there before, please share with us your experiences.
We love to hear from you so please leave your comments below.
Did you went back the same way you came in (mountain) or were you able to take a taxi from the main entrance of the templem
Our driver waited for us at the entrance. There were other drivers that could have taken us back into the center of the city.
Love the details you have provided for the Monkey Temple. The pictures are really fantastic. Keep up the good work. I’ll definitely be checking out more pages on your website.
Thanks Martin for your kind words.