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There are many temples in India (or other countries) related to Hindu religion. And many has their own significance of being established at that place.

For example like:

  • A God kept the step here.
  • Some devotee was born here/used to worship in this temple.
  • Strange/unique occurences in this place occur frequently.
  • Some people visioned God here.
  • There are epic stories related to this place.

So, the above stories are not related to any Hindu scriptures like Vedas, upanishads or puranas but still they are related to Hinduism.

So, shall we include these stories as on-topic?

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I think it is fine to ask questions about the story behind a particular temple. But just as claims about Hindu mythology in general should be backed up with citations of Hindu scripture (Vedas, Puranas, Ramayana, Mahabharata), we should similarly require that claims about the story behind a temple be backed up with citations of sources like Sthala Puranas, which are texts that deal with the story of a specific temple or sacred place.

But we should also discourage speculative claims about temples, like the temple where people claimed that the Ganesha statue would drink milk. (I happen to believe that claim, but it's not the sort of thing that is appropriate for this site.)

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  • [Just curious to know] What if they are not related to the Hindu scriptures but still they are most widely popular? (like Tirupathi)
    – Mr_Green
    Jul 1, 2014 at 5:06
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    @Mr_Green The story of Tirupati is told in numerous Puranas, including the Skanda Purana and the Varaha Purana. And even if it wasn't, you could read the Sthala Purana of Tirupati.
    – Keshav Srinivasan Mod
    Jul 1, 2014 at 5:21
  • Sorry, I thought Tirupathi is not mentioned in scriptures but there are many other famous temples which are not mentioned in scriptures. what about them? are they on-topic?
    – Mr_Green
    Jul 1, 2014 at 6:36
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    @Mr_Green There are certainly famous temples not mentioned in the main scriptures of Hinduism (Vedas, Mahapuranas, Ramayana, Mahabharata), but those temples would still presumably have Sthala Puranas, so we can use them as the source of information.
    – Keshav Srinivasan Mod
    Jul 1, 2014 at 6:40
  • @Mr_Green By the way, you can read the Skanda Puranda story of Srinivasa (AKA venkateshwara or Balaji) in Tirupati here: gdurl.com/RjEf
    – Keshav Srinivasan Mod
    Jul 1, 2014 at 8:53

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