Product Code Database
Example Keywords: machine -blackberry $100-171
   » » Wiki: Shakta Pithas
Tag Wiki 'Shakta Pithas'.
Tag

The Shakta Pithas, also called Shakti pithas or Sati pithas (, , seats of Shakti

(2025). 9780691120485, Princeton University Press. .
), are significant and pilgrimage destinations in , the denomination in . The shrines are dedicated to various forms of . Various such as Srimad Devi Bhagavatam state the existence of a varying number of 51, 52, 64 and 108 Shakta pithas
(2025). 9780810880245, Scarecrow. .
of which 18 are named as Astadasha Maha (major) and 4 are named as Chatasrah Aadi (first) in medieval Hindu texts. (Devanagari: चतस्रः आदि)
(2025). 9781594777851, Inner Traditions. .

Legends abound about how the Shakta pithas came into existence. The most popular is based on the story of the death of Sati, a deity according to Hinduism. Shiva carried Sati's body, reminiscing about their moments as a couple, and roamed around the universe with it. Vishnu cut her body into 51 body parts, using his Sudarshana Chakra, which fell on earth to become sacred sites where all the people can pay homage to the goddess. To complete this task, Shiva took the form of .

Most of these historic places of goddess worship are in , but there are some in , seven in , two in , and one each in , and . There were many legends in ancient and modern sources that document this evidence. A consensus view on the number and location of the precise sites where goddess Sati's corpse fell is lacking, although certain sites are more well-regarded than others., Uttar Pradesh. Shakambhari Devi is one of the 108 Siddha pithas of Brahma Purana and one of the oldest temples of Devi Shakambhari. Around ten million people visit the temple annually.]] The greatest number of Shakta pithas are present in the region. During partition the numbers were (19,) and (7). After the secret transfer of Dhakeshwari Shakta pitha from to the numbers stand as West Bengal (20,) and Bangladesh (6).


Hinduism

Hindu literature
The , one of the major eighteen mentions 64 Shakta pithas of the goddess in the Bharat or including present-day India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, some parts of Southern Tibet in China and parts of southern Pakistan. Another text which gives a listing of these shrines, is the Shakta Pitha Stotram, written by , the 9th-century Hindu philosopher. Shakti Peetha Stotram Vedanta Spiritual Library

According to the manuscript Mahapithapurana (c. 1690–1720 CE), there are 52 such places. Among them, 23 are located in the region, 14 of these are located in what is now , India, 1 in Baster (Chhattisgarh), while 7 are in what is now .


Daksha yajna
According to legend, lord once conducted a huge (ritual sacrifice), where all the prajapatis, deities, and kings of the world were invited. Shiva and Sati were also called on to participate in the yajna. All of them came for the yajna, and sat in the ceremonial place. Daksha came last. When he arrived, everyone in the yajna, with the exception of Brahma and Shiva, stood up, showing their reverence for him. Brahma, being Daksha's father, did not rise. Shiva, being Daksha's son-in-law, and also due to the fact that he considered himself superior in stature to Daksha, remained seated. Daksha misunderstood Shiva's gesture, and considered this act an insult. Daksha vowed to take revenge on the insult in the same manner.
(1992). 9788120809666, Motilal Banarsidass.

Daksha performed a yajna with a desire to take revenge on Shiva. Daksha invited all the deities to the yajna, except Shiva and Sati. The fact that she was not invited did not deter Sati's desire to attend the yajna. She expressed her desire to Shiva, who tried his best to dissuade her from going. He relented at her continued insistence, Sati went to her father's yajna. However, Sati was not given her due respect at the yajna, and had to bear witness to Daksha's insults aimed at Shiva. Anguished, Sati cursed her father and self-immolated.

Enraged at the insult and death of his spouse, Shiva in his destroyed Daksha's yajna and cut off his head. His anger not abated and immersed in grief, Shiva then picked up the remains of Sati's body and performed the , the celestial dance of destruction, across all creation. Frightened, the other deities requested to intervene to stop this destruction. As a recourse, Vishnu used the Sudarshana Chakra on Sati's corpse. This caused various parts of Sati's body to fall at several spots across the world.

The history of and Sati's self-immolation had immense significance in shaping the ancient Sanskrit literature and influenced the culture of India. Each of the places on Earth where Sati's body parts were known to have fallen were then considered as Shakta pithas and were deemed places of great spiritual importance.

(2025). 9788171392803, Jnanada Prakashan. .
Several stories in the Puranas and other Hindu religious books refer to the Daksha yajna. It is an important incident in both and , and marks the replacement of Sati with , and of the beginning of Shiva's house-holder ( grihastāshramī) life from an ascetic. This event is ahead of the emergence of both of the couple's children, and .


Shakta pithas
Each temple has shrines for Shakti and , and most Shakti and Kalabhairava in different Shakta pithas have different names.


Map of India's Shakta pithas

List of 4 Adi Shakta pithas
The scriptures, which include the , recognize four Shakta pithas as sites where most of the energy is. where the feet fell (Pada Khanda), Tara Tarini housing the breasts (Stana Khanda), , where the genitals fell ( Khanda) and Dakshina Kalika, where the toes of right foot fell. These four temples originated from the lifeless body of Sati.

Apart from these 4 there are 48 other famous pithas recognized by religious texts. According to the Pithanirnaya Tantra the 51 pithas are in the present day countries of India, , , , Tibet, and Pakistan. The Shivacharita besides listing 51 maha-pithas, speaks about 26 more upa-pithas. The Bengali , Vishuddha Siddhanta Panjika too describes the 51 pithas including the present modified addresses. A few of the several accepted listings are given below. 51 Pithas of Parvati – From Hindunet In South India, in Andhra Pradesh became the site for a 2nd-century temple.


List of 18 Astadasha Maha Shakta pithas
There are believed to be 64 locations. 's Ashtadasha Shakta pitha Stotram mentions 18 locations known as the Maha Shakta pithas.
(2018). 9789387456129, Zorba Books. .
Among these, the Shakta pithas at , Gaya and are regarded as the most sacred as they symbolize the three most important aspects of the Mother Goddess viz. Creation (Kamarupa Devi), Nourishment (Sarvamangala Devi/Mangalagauri), and Annihilation (Mahakali Devi).

is currently in a ruined state. 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 of Kashmir and Jammu. Instead, Sringeri Sharada pitham, in Karnataka even though not a Shakta pithas, is this aspect of the goddess. It is believed that Goddess Sharada moved from her ruined temple in Kashmir to live in the new temple in Sringeri. Requests have been made by the Hindu community in Pakistan to the Pakistani government to renovate the temple, the issue being raised by former Indian Home minister L. K. Advani to the Pakistan authorities as a confidence-building measure, by increasing the people-to-people cross-border interaction.

Currently, a new Sharada pitha temple has been inaugurated and consecrated by the Indian Government and the Sringeri Sharada Peetham in 2023, in Kupwara district, Jammu and Kashmir, on the other side of the LOC and much farther from the original temple. The Indian Government is planning an international corridor between the old Sharada pitha and India.


In Skanda Purana
As per Sankara Samhita of ,

  1. Sri Sankari Pitham ()
  2. Sri Simhika Pitham (Simhala)
  3. Sri Manika Pitham (, Dakshavati)
  4. Sri Shadkala Pitham (Peethapuram)
  5. Sri Bhramaramba Pitham ()
  6. Sri Vijaya Pitham ()
  7. Sri Mahalakshmi Pitham ()
  8. Sri padmakshi renuka Pitham ()
  9. Sri Kamakoti Pitham ()
  10. Sri Kuchananda Pitham ()
  11. ()
  12. Sri Bhadreshwari Pitham (Harmyagiri)
  13. Sri Mahakali Pitham ()
  14. Sri Vindhyavasini Pitham ( mountains)
  15. Sri Mahayogi Pitham (Ahicchatra)
  16. Sri Kanyaka Pitham (Kanyakumari)
  17. Sri Vishalakshi Pitham ()
  18. Sri Saraswati Pitham ()
  19. Sri Abhirami Pitham (Padmagiri, )


List of all Shakta pithas
In the listings below:
  • "Shakti" refers to the Goddess worshipped at each location, all being manifestations of Goddess Sati; later known as or ;
  • "" 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.

More details on this are available in the text 'Tantrachūḍamanī' where Parvati tells these details to her son .

Important: 1) The main idol of the Dhakeshwari Shaktipeeth in is currently relocated to the Kumartuli Dhakeshwari Temple in , . The temple priest fled to India with the main idol during the partition via a specially chartered train. While in the original shrine, a replica is placed. The original holy gem of Goddess Sati was lost long before (the factual date is unknown). So for the actual idol, visit the shrine.

2) The Shrinkhala Shaktipeeth (one of 18 Maha Shakti Peethas) in , , is a disputed site. The original shrine was destroyed during the partition of India in 1947 and an Islamic was built there by the Muslims. Years later, a door claimed by the locals as the door to the sanctum of the temple is closed by the ASI. The Hindus claim that the temple was destroyed and the minar was built there. It is claimed that the idol of Goddess Shrinkhala was taken to in Karnataka but no such evidence exists there to date because a different Sharada Devi Temple was built there by Adi Shankaracharya. At present in the Hooghly district, only the Ratnabali Shaktipeeth is present.

3) Confusion about Hingalaj Bhawani Temple: it is said the main deity was secretly shifted to Talcher, Odisha in the medieval era by the then Maharajah of , where she is in the form of Hingula Debi.

Other Shakipeeths:-

The following shrines are not recognised as the Shakti Peethas, but are still claimed by the devotees and priests, for various reasons.

1. Jwala Devi Temple in , , India

2. Jayanti Kali Temple (location disputed)

3. Asamai Devi Temple in ,

4. Juranpur Kali Temple in West Bengal, India

5. Ambika Bhawani, Saran, Bihar (Yagyashala of Daksh)

5. Sarbamangala Temple in , West Bengal (the temple priests claim that Goddess Sati's body part fell here)

6. Jogamaya Shaktipeeth in Kalahandi, Odisha, India

There are disputes about the location of the Jayanti Shakti Pitha. Based on most presented manuscripts and facts it is situated in the namesake Jaintiapur Upazila town, , which was previously the capital of the Jaintia Hills tribe kingdom, in the Jaintia Hills district of Meghalaya, India, excluding Jaintiapur. However, some people say that it is the Nartiang Durga temple which is the real Jayanti Temple, though there is a shortage of evidence. Some other people argue the actual shrine is at in West Bengal, where the goddess is worshiped as Maa Melai Chandi in . But this fact can not be corroborated with any evidence. Moreover, refuting most texts, in Melai Chandi Mandir, the Bhairava is Durgeshwar rather than Kramadishwar. Some also identify the Jayanti shrine with the cave temple situated in the village Jayanti of in India, where many statues were created by and (natural rock formations), but there is no evidence.

Shakta pitha
The Shakta pitha is considered a Shakta pitha even though any body parts of Sati did not fall there. Vindhyavasini is the ultimate and the highest form of the goddess, she is called . Goddess Vindhyavasini is considered the embodiment of all of the , , , and all the other goddesses present in this universe, she is herself. Many legends are associated with Vindhyavasini, she is also called . She is the combined form of all 108 Shakta pithas as mentioned in the Devi Bhagavata Purana text. This is because it is the place where the goddess chose to reside after her birth in . At the time of the birth of to and , took birth in to Nanda and as per the instruction of Lord . Vasudeva replaced his son Krishna with this girl child of Yashoda so that Krishna could escape his demon uncle , whom he would kill later according to a prophecy. When Kamsa tried to kill the girl, she slipped from his hands, assumed her true form and warned Kamsa that his killer (Krishna) still lived on. She left and the goddess chose the Mountains as her abode to live on the earth. It is also believed that Vindhyavasini is the sister of Krishna.


See also
  • (yatra)
  • Hindu pilgrimage sites
  • List of Hindu temples
  • List of Mansa Devi temples


Further reading
  • (1998). 9788120808799, Motilal Banarsidass Publ.. .


Notes

External links

Page 1 of 1
1
Page 1 of 1
1

Account

Social:
Pages:  ..   .. 
Items:  .. 

Navigation

General: Atom Feed Atom Feed  .. 
Help:  ..   .. 
Category:  ..   .. 
Media:  ..   .. 
Posts:  ..   ..   .. 

Statistics

Page:  .. 
Summary:  .. 
1 Tags
10/10 Page Rank
5 Page Refs
9s Time