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.)