Birla Mandir, Jaipur

In Jaipur, this marble temple's guide traces how one of India's wealthiest industrial families, the Birlas, built it after receiving the land from the Maharaja for a token price. It follows their rise from a modest trader in Pilani to a dynasty devoted to building temples open to every caste, and lingers over the carved verses from the Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads set into these walls. Near the entrance, stone figures of the temple's founders still sit facing the building they funded.