Ratneshwar Mahadev Temple, Varanasi: The Leaning Temple, Timings and Visiting Guide

ॐEssential info at a glance

ॐTimings, darshan and aarti

This is not a temple you can rely on entering at any time of year, because the river decides. When the water is low, in the summer months, the sanctum is reachable and darshan runs on a daily schedule with morning and evening aartis. For much of the rest of the year the lower sanctum is underwater, and you admire the temple from the ghat or a boat rather than stepping inside.

ॐThe leaning temple: the tilt and the water

Two things make the Ratneshwar Mahadev Temple one of the most extraordinary sights in Varanasi. First, the lean: it tilts about 9 degrees, more than twice the famous lean of the Tower of Pisa. Second, the water: unlike every other temple on the ghats, which sit high on stone platforms, this one was built right at the river's edge, and its lower sanctum stays submerged in the Ganga for most of the year. In the past, when the doorway was underwater, the priest was said to dive down to perform the worship.

Because old images show it standing straight, the temple is a genuine puzzle: not built to lean, but tilted over time by the river it was so boldly built beside. That slow, unfinished quality, a shrine the Ganga seems to be gently claiming, is exactly what makes it so haunting to see.

ॐThe legends and the enigma of who built it

Almost nothing about this temple is settled, and that is part of its spell. Even its builder is disputed. Some say it was raised by a servant of Raja Man Singh, some by a servant of the great Ahilyabai Holkar, and others by the Scindia queen of Gwalior, Baiza Bai, in the 19th century; revenue records point to the 1820s, while other accounts credit the Amethi royal family. No single answer has ever been proven.

The best loved legend explains the lean as a curse. In the story, a devoted son built the temple in the name of his mother, Ratna Bai, and then proudly declared that he had at last repaid the debt he owed her. But in the tradition a mother's debt can never be repaid, and for that pride the temple was cursed to lean and to sink, never to stand upright or fully rise again. Whether you take it as history or as parable, it gives the tilted shrine a strange, human poignancy.

ॐArchitecture and what to look for

For all its mystery, the temple itself is an elegant, classical Shiva shrine. Look for the lion on its pinnacle, and the fine carvings on the stonework depicting scenes of the Krishna Leela and the Dashavatar, the ten incarnations of Vishnu. Within the sanctum, when the water allows, are consecrated Shiva lingas. It stands on the riverbank in front of the Tarkeshwar Mahadev Temple, at the northern end of the ghats where Manikarnika meets Scindia Ghat, which is the wider riverfront you will pass on the way. See our guide to Scindia Ghat for the setting around it.

ॐWhen and how to see the leaning temple

Timing matters more here than at almost any other temple in the city, because the river changes what you can see.

1. Go at sunrise, when the light is soft and the river is calm.

2. View from a boat on the Ganga, which is how the temple is best seen and photographed, and the only way to see it at all when the water is high.

3. If you visit in the low-water summer months, ask whether the sanctum is reachable that week for darshan.

4. Be respectful, as the temple sits right beside the Manikarnika cremation ghat; photograph the temple, never the cremations.

We arrange the sunrise boat, the timing and a guide who knows exactly where to hold the boat for the leaning temple.

ॐSeeing the leaning temple at dawn, in my own words

By Rajeev Sharma, Varanasi local

Of all the sights I show my guests on the river, this is the one that stops them mid sentence. We take a boat out before dawn, and as the light rises the leaning temple comes up out of the Ganga, tilted, half drowned, and still standing. I let them look for a while before I say anything. Then I tell them the truth of it: that in old photographs it stood perfectly straight, that nobody can agree who built it, and that the loveliest story says a son cursed it by boasting he had repaid his mother's debt.

In the summer, when the river is low, we sometimes see the lower steps of the temple emerge and a little worship happening; the rest of the year, only the tower shows and we simply admire it from the water. It sits right next to the burning ghat at Manikarnika, so I keep the boat quiet and respectful. There is something about a temple the river is slowly taking back that stays with people long after the grand aarti has faded from memory.

In more than forty years of guiding, no photograph my guests take surprises their friends more than this one.

ॐHow to reach the Ratneshwar Mahadev Temple

The temple stands on the riverbank at Manikarnika Ghat, at the northern end of the main ghats beside Scindia Ghat. There is no road to it; you see it from the ghat steps or, far better, from a boat.

By boat is the best and often the only way to see the leaning temple, and it links naturally with the ghats north and south in one sunrise journey.

ॐAccessibility for elderly and mobility limited visitors

• There is no step free access to the temple itself; for most of the year it can only be viewed, not entered.
• A boat is by far the easiest and best way to see it, since the temple is meant to be admired from the water.
• The sunrise is calm and uncrowded, which suits a gentle visit.
• We arrange the boat and the drop points so a senior visitor is comfortable throughout.

ॐNearby ghats and temples to combine

The leaning temple is part of the quiet northern riverfront, easy to combine on a single sunrise boat journey.

For a sunrise boat that takes in the leaning temple with the wider riverfront and the old city temples, see our Varanasi tour packages.

ॐSafety and practical tips

A guided sunrise boat removes the haggling and the guesswork so you can simply take in the view.

ॐOur sunrise boat experiences

We are a Varanasi based operator, a unit of Experience My India, with more than forty years of guiding pilgrims across Kashi, Ayodhya, and Prayagraj. The temple is free, so what we arrange is the experience around it: a sunrise boat that holds the right position for the leaning temple, a fair fixed price, a life jacket, and a local guide who tells you its story.

Inclusions and exclusions are stated up front, with any taxes and conditions, and no charge appears later that was not named. See all our Varanasi tour packages for the full range.

Experience My India is a travel operator. Boat prices vary with season, demand and boat type; we give you a fair fixed rate before you board.