A Mandir, Devalayam, Devasthanam, or a Hindu temple is a place of worship for followers of Hinduism. A characteristic of most temples is the presence of murtis (statues) of the Hindu deity to whom the temple is dedicated. They are usually dedicated to one primary deity, the presiding deity, and other deities associated with the main deity. However, some temples are dedicated to several deities, and others are dedicated to murtis in an aniconic form. Many temples are in key geographical points, such as a hill top, near waterfalls, caves and rivers, because some believe the Puranas mention that "the gods always play where groves are near rivers, mountains, and springs."

Many Hindu temples are known by different names around the world, depending upon the language. The word mandir or mandiram is used in many languages and is derived from a Sanskrit word, mandira, for house (of a deity by implication). Temples are known as Mandir (मंदिर) in Marathi and Hindi, Devasthanam, Kshetralayam, Punyakshetram, or Punyakshetralayam in Telugu, as Deula(ଦେଉଳ)/Mandira(ମଦିର) in Oriya, Devasthana (ದೇವಸ್ಥಾನ) in Kannada and Mondir (মন্দির) in Bengali, as Kshetram (ക്ഷേത്രം) or Ambalam (അമ്പലം) in Malayalam. Temples are known as kō-ail (கோயில்) (and occasionally, especially in modern formal speech, Aalayam (ஆலயம்) in Tamil.The etymology is from kō (கோ) or lord, and il (இல்) home. (Besides meaning a deity's home, this term could also mean a king's home, since the term kō (கோ) is used interchangeably for royalty and divinity.)

Karni Mata (Hindi: करणी माता) ((1387-10-02)2 October 1387 – 23 March 1538(1538-03-23)) was a female Hindu sage born in the Charan caste and is worshiped as the incarnation of the goddess Durga by her followers. She is an official deity of the royal family of Jodhpur and Bikaner. During her lifetime, she laid the foundation stone of two of the important forts in Rajputana. She lived an ascetic life, and most of the temples dedicated to her were dedicated during her lifetime. A temple dedicated to her during her lifetime differs from others in that it does not contain an image or idol of her but rather contains a foot-print to symbolize her visit to that place. The most famous of her temples is the temple of Deshnoke, which was created following her mysterious disappearance from her home. The temple is famous for its rats, which are treated as sacred and given protection in the temple. This temple is near to Bikaner and Nokha. The second name of Karni mata is (Nari bai). Contrary to some reports, the temple is of the Hindu sect and is not affiliated with the Jainism.

Ram Puniyani (born 25 August 1945) was a professor in biomedical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, and took voluntary retirement in December 2004 to work full time for communal harmony in India [1][2]. He is involved with human rights activities from last two decades. He is working for communal harmony and initiatives to oppose the rising tide of Fundamentalism in India [3]. He is associated with various secular and democratic initiatives like All India Secular Forum, Center for Study of Society and Secularism and ANHAD.

Dr. Puniyani was born in British India (1945), and raised in a refugee Punjabi speaking business family in the central Indian town of Nagpur. He completed a Visharad in Hindi literature along side matriculation, and thence both MBBS and MD at the Nagpur Medical college. Upon graduation he moved to Mumbai where he found a job as a senior medical officer(SMO) at the Indian Institute of technology campus in Powai, Mumbai. After about 10 years of service as a physician, he diverted into the then fledgling Blood Rhealogy lab set up in collaboration with various Mechanical Engineering faculty. After obtaining Tenure, and successfully producing more than 5 doctoral students and mentoring numerous talented Masters students, he decided to dedicate himself to the then burning cause of restoring secular principles to post Babri-demolition post Mumbai-rioting India. He resides in Powai with his wife who is a practising physician, whom he met as a professor of Medicine in Nagpur Medical College. He has two sons who are settled as professionals in various companies.