Ayodhyā The sacred city of Rama's birth on the banks of the Sarayu.
Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India Mathurā The birthplace of Krishna, on the banks of the Yamuna.
Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, India Vṛndāvana The forest where Krishna spent his childhood performing divine lilas.
Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh, India Kurukṣetra The battlefield of the Mahabharata war and the setting of the Bhagavad Gita.
Kurukshetra, Haryana, India Kāśī (Vārāṇasī) The eternal city of Shiva, oldest continuously inhabited city in India.
Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India Prayāga (Triveṇī Saṅgama) The confluence of Ganga, Yamuna, and the hidden Saraswati.
Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India Rāmeśvaram Where Rama worshipped Shiva before crossing to Lanka.
Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, India Dvārakā Krishna's golden city by the sea, now submerged beneath the Arabian Sea.
Badarīnātha (Badrinath) The Himalayan abode of Vishnu, one of the Char Dham.
Badrinath, Uttarakhand, India Gaṅgā The holiest river, descended from heaven through Shiva's matted hair.
Flows through Uttarakhand, UP, Bihar, and West Bengal, India Yamunā The river of Krishna's childhood, sister of Yama.
Flows through Uttarakhand, Haryana, Delhi, UP, India Sarayū The river of Ayodhya, where Rama's story begins and ends.
Flows through Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, India Sarasvatī The mythical river-goddess of knowledge, now vanished from the surface.
Ghaggar-Hakra river bed (Rajasthan/Pakistan border region) Naimiṣa Araṇya The sacred forest where the Puranas were narrated.
Naimisharanya, Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh, India Daṇḍakāraṇya The vast forest where Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana spent exile.
Central India (Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Maharashtra) Kailāśa The abode of Shiva, the cosmic mountain at the center of the world.
Ngari Prefecture, Tibet, China Meru (Sumeru) The cosmic mountain at the center of all universes.
Cosmological — no physical location Vaikuṇṭha The eternal abode of Vishnu, beyond the material universe.
Theological — beyond the material universe