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Number of Pradakshina or Parikrama for Devi, Vishnu, Ganesh, Surya and Shiva

Pradakshina, or Parikrama, is the going around the murti of a Hindu God or goddess in a temple and it is considered highly meritorious. The belief is that the energy in the murti installed in the temple is channeled to the devotee as he moves around. The number of times a devotee does Parikrama varies for each deity. The number of times Pradakshina is performed for Devi, Vishnu, Ganesh, Surya and Shiva are different.


For Devi or Mother Goddess, Pradakshina is only performed once.
For Vishnu it is four times.
For Ganesh it is one or three times.
For Surya it is seven times.
Bhadrakali it is two times
Ayyappa and Shasta it is five times
Subrahmanya it is seven times
In South India it is seven times for Bhagavati and Durga Devi
Navgrahas it is nine.
For Banayan or Peepal tree it is seven.
For Shiva the Pradakshina is not a full circle but only ¾. The devotee stops at the Gauripatta. For Shiva it is performed one or 3 or 5 times.

The belief is that those who perform Pradakshina in the morning will have relief from illness; during noon time help in desire fulfillment and evening will help in sin redemption.

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