India has quite a few places where there has been a continuity of religious fervor for centuries and the fervor has found concrete shape in the form of temples and places of pilgrimage. There are again some places which were temple-cities and had been very important once but, owing to passage of time and the vicissitudes of history, are now no longer places of pilgrimage and merely contain relies of great importance.

There are, too, some places, which had become quite famous because of a temple or temples but had gone into oblivion for some time and then revived again. Bodh Gaya in the Gaya district is an example of this.  Shahabad district was once famous for Jain shrines, but for quite some time the Jains lost their foot-hold there. Again in recent times that district and particularly Arrah, the headquarters town of the district, has become a place of pilgrimage for the Jains all over India.