Shakti Peetha

Legend

Lord Brahma performed a yajna (Vedic ritual of fire sacrifice) to please Shakti and Shiva. Goddess Shakti emerged, separating from Shiva and helped Brahma in the creation of the universe. Brahma decided to give Shakti back to Shiva. Therefore, his son Daksha performed several yagnas to obtain Shakti as his daughter in the form of Sati. It was then decided that Sati was brought into this world with the motive of getting married to Shiva.

However, due to Lord Shiva's curse to Brahma that his fifth head was cut off due to his lie in front of Shiva, Daksha started hating Lord Shiva and decided not to let Lord Shiva and Sati get married. However, Sati got attracted to Shiva and finally one day Shiva and Sati got married. This marriage only increased Daksha's hatred towards Lord Shiva.

Daksha performed a yagna with a desire to take revenge on Lord Shiva near Munimandala present Muramalla Andhra Pradesh. Daksha invited all the deities to the yajna except Lord Shiva and Sati. The fact that she was not invited did not deter Sati from attending the yagna. She expressed her desire to attend the yagna to Shiva, who tried his best to dissuade her from going. Shiva eventually relented and Sati went to the yagna. Sati, being an uninvited guest, was not given any respect at the yagna. Furthermore, Daksha insulted Shiva. Sati was unable to bear her father's insults toward her husband, so she immolated herself.

Enraged at the insult and the injury, Shiva in Virabhadra avatar destroyed Daksha's yagna, cut off Daksha's head, and later replaced it with that of a male goat as he restored him to life.Virabhadra didn't stop fighting he kept raging with anger. Gods prayed lord Vishnu. He came there and started fighting him. Still immersed in grief, Shiva picked up the remains of Sati's body, and performed the Tandava, the celestial dance of destruction, across all creation. The other Gods requested Vishnu to intervene to stop this destruction, towards which Vishnu used the Sudarshana Chakra, which cut through the Sati's corpse. The various parts of the body fell at several spots all through the Indian subcontinent and formed sites which are known as Shakti Peethas today.

At all the Shakti Peethas, the Goddess Shakti is accompanied by her consort, Lord Bhairava (a manifestation of Lord Shiva). Shakti is an aspect of the Supreme Being Adi parashakti, the mother of the trimurti, the holy trinity in Hindu religion & scriptures.

Shakti's self-immolation

The history of Daksha yagna and Shakti's self immolation had immense significance in shaping the ancient Sanskrit literature and even had impact on the culture of India. It led to the development of the concept of Shakti Peethas and there by strengthening Shaktism. Enormous stories in Puranas & other Hindu religious books took the Daksha yagna as the reason for its origin. It is an important incident in Shaivism resulting in the emergence of Shree Parvati in the place of Shakti Devi and making Shiva a grihastashrami (house holder) leading to the origin of Ganapathy and Subrahmanya.

Shakti Peethas are shrines or divine places of the Mother Goddess. These are places that are believed to have enshrined with the presence of Shakti due to the falling of body parts of the corpse of Sati Devi, when Lord Shiva carried it and wandered throughout Aryavartha in sorrow. There are 51 Shakti Peeth linking to the 51 alphabets in Sanskrit. Each temple has shrines for Shakti and Kalabhairava, and mostly Shakti and Kalabharava in different Shakti Peeth have different names.

Four Adi Shakti Pithas

Some of the great religious texts like the Shiva Purana, the Devi Bhagavata, the Kalika Purana and the AstaShakti recognize four major Shakti Peethas (centers), like Bimala (Pada Khanda) (inside the Jagannath temple of Puri, Odisha), Tara Tarini (Sthana Khanda, Purnagiri, Breasts) (Near Berhampur, Odisha), Kamakhya Temple (Yoni khanda) (Near Guwahati, Assam) and Dakshina Kalika (Mukha khanda) (Kolkata, West Bengal) originated from the limbs of the Corpse of Mata Sati in the Satya Yuga.

The Astashakti and Kalika Purana says (in Sanskrit):

"Bimala Pada khandancha, Sthana khandancha Tarini (Tara Tarini), Kamakshya Yoni khandancha, Mukha khandancha Kalika (Dakshina Kalika) Anga pratyanga sanghena Vishnu Chakra Kshyta nacha"

Further explaining the importance of these four Pithas, the "Brihat Samhita" also gives the location of these Pithas as (In Sanskrit)

"Rushikulya* Tatae Devi, Tarakashya Mahagiri, Tashya Srunga Stitha Tara Vasishta Rajitapara" (Rushikulya is a holy river flowing on the foothill of the Tara Tarini Hill Shrine).

List of 4 Adi Shakti Pithas

In the listings below:

"Shakti" refers to the Goddess worshipped at each location, all being manifestations of Dakshayani (Sati), Parvati or Durga;

"Body Part or Ornament" refers to the body part or piece of jewellery that fell to earth, at the location on which the respective temple is built.

Apart from these 4 there are 51 other famous Peethas recognised by religious texts. According to the Pithanirnaya Tantra the 51 peethas are scattered all over India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan and Pakistan. The Shivacharita besides listing 51 maha-peethas, speaks about 26 more upa-peethas. The Bengali almanac, Vishuddha Siddhanta Panjika too describes the 51 peethas including the present modified addresses. A few of the several accepted listings are given below. One of the few in South India, Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh became the site for a 2nd-century temple.

The List of 55 Shakti Pithas

In the listings below:

"Shakti" refers to the Goddess worshipped at each location, all being manifestations of Dakshayani, Sati; later known as Parvati or Durga;

"Bhairava" refers to the corresponding consort, each a manifestation of Shiva;

"Body Part or Ornament" refers to the body part or piece of jewellery that fell to earth, at the location on which the respective temple is built.

18 Maha Shakti Pithas

The modern cities or towns that correspond to these 64 locations can be a matter of dispute, but there are a few that are totally unambiguous, these are mentioned in the Ashta Dasa Shakthi Peetha Stotram by Adi Shankara. This list contains 18 such locations which are often referred to as Maha Shakthi Peeths.

[*]Sharada Peeth: This temple is currently non-existent*. Only ruins are found in these places. Its ruins are near the Line of Control (LOC) between the Indian and Pakistani-controlled portions of the former princely state of Kashmir and Jammu. Instead, Sringeri Sharada Peetham, Sringeri in Karnataka even though not a Shakti Peetha is this aspect of the goddess. Requests have been made by the Hindu community in Pakistan to the Pakistani government to renovate the temple, the issue was raised by former Indian Home minister L. K. Advani to the Pakistan authorities as a confidence building measure, by increasing the people to people interaction cross border.

Among these, the Shakti Peethas at Kamakhya, Gaya and Ujjain are regarded as most sacred as they symbolise three most important aspects of mother Goddess viz. Creation (Kamarupa Devi), Nourishment (Sarvamangala Devi/Mangalagauri) and Annihilation (Mahakali Devi).

When observed carefully one can see that they lie in a perfect straight line from Kamakhya to Ujjain via Gaya symbolizing that every creation in this universe will annihilate one day without fail. With concepts like Hinduism and Ecology gaining importance, the geographical features of these temples are gaining importance.

Aṣṭhādaśa śakti Pīṭha Stotram

Devanāgarī :
लङ्कायाम् शांकरीदेवी कामाक्षी काञ्चिकापुरे ।
प्रद्युम्ने शृङ्खला देवी चामुण्दा क्रौञ्चपट्टणे ॥
अलम्पुरे जोगुलाम्ब श्रीशैले भ्रमराम्बिक ।
कोल्हापुरमहलक्ष्मी माहुर्यमेकवीरिका ॥
उज्जयिन्याम् महाकाळी पीठिकायाम् पुरुहुतिका ।
ओड्ढ्यायाम् गिरिजादेवी माणिक्या दक्षवाटिके ॥
हरिक्षेत्रे कामरूपी प्रयागे माधवेश्वरी ।
ज्वालायाम् वैष्णवीदेवी गयामाङ्गल्यगौरिके ॥
वारणास्याम् विशालाक्षी काश्मीरेतु सरस्वती ।
अष्ठादशैवपीठानि योनिनामप दुर्लभानिच ॥
सायंकालं पठेन्नित्यम् सर्वरोगनिवारणम् ।
सर्वपापहरम् दिव्यम् सर्वसम्पत्करम् शुभम् ॥

IAST:

laṅkāyām śāṃkarīdevī kāmākṣī kāñcikāpure ।
pradyumne śṛṅkhalā devī cāmuṇdā krauñcapaṭṭaṇe
॥ alampure jogulāmba śrīśaile bhramarāmbika ।
kolhāpuramahalakṣmī māhuryamekavīrikā ॥
ujjayinyām mahākāḻī pīṭhikāyām puruhutikā ।
oḍḍhyāyām girijādevī māṇikyā dakṣavāṭike ॥
harikṣetre kāmarūpī prayāge mādhaveśvarī ।
jvālāyām vaiṣṇavīdevī gayāmāṅgalyagaurike ॥
vāraṇāsyām viśālākṣī kāśmīretu sarasvatī ।
aṣṭhādaśaivapīṭhāni yonināmapa durlabhānica ॥
sāyaṃkālaṃ paṭhennityam sarvaroganivāraṇam ।
sarvapāpaharam divyam sarvasampatkaram śubham ॥

Translation of the stotra

Goddess Shankari in Sri Lanka, Kamakshi in Kanchipuram Goddess Shrinkhala in Pradymna and Chamunda in Mysore

Goddess Jogulamba in Alampur, Goddess Brhamarambika in Sri Shailam Goddess Maha Lakshmi in Kolhapur and Goddess Eka Veera in Mahur

Goddess Maha Kali in Ujjain, Purhuthika in Peethika Goddess Girija in Odhyana and Manikya in the house of Daksha

Goddess Kama Rupi in the temple of Vishnu, Madhaveshwari in Allahabad Goddess giving flame in Jwala Mukhi and Mangala Gowri in Gaya

Goddess Vishalakshi in Varanasi, Saraswati in Kashmir These are the 18 houses of Shakti, which are rare even to the Devas

When chanted every evening, all the enemies would get destroyed all the diseases would vanish, and prosperity would be showered.