The goddess whose 7,816 m peak crowns the Kumaon horizon keeps her town seat in the middle of Almora's stone-paved bazaar. The Nanda Devi temple, sheltered in the Chand rajas' old Malla Mahal complex, has been the emotional centre of Kumaon since the 16th–17th centuries — the place where the hill kingdom's patron goddess, Parvati as the blissful Nanda, receives her people.
The September Fair
For five days around Nanda Ashtami (September), the Nanda Devi mela turns Almora inside out: banana-stem images of Nanda and her sister Sunanda are raised, doli processions arrive from the villages, and the bazaar becomes one long fairground of song, trade and devotion. It is the essential Kumaoni festival — plan an Almora stay around it once in your life.
The Raj Jat Connection
Almora's shrine ties into the vast Nanda Devi Raj Jat tradition — the "royal pilgrimage" that, roughly once a generation, walks the goddess home 280 km to Homkund beneath her peaks, behind a four-horned ram. Between Raj Jats, the annual fairs at Almora and across Kumaon-Garhwal keep the goddess's cycle alive.
Visiting
The temple sits on the pedestrian Lala Bazaar stretch — combine it with the Chand-era patal-stone lanes, Khazanchi Mohalla's copper workshops and bal mithai from the century-old sweet shops. Open through daylight hours; morning aarti is the quiet moment.
Pair It With
Chitai, Katarmal and Jageshwar ring Almora within an hour — the heritage heart of our Kumaon temple journeys.
In Almora for the Fair?
September’s Nanda Devi mela is Kumaon at full volume. We plan Almora stays and the whole heritage circuit around it.
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