Ashta Dasha Shakti Peethas
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Indian Spiritual tradition has propounded four Purusharth (objectives) of a human life. These being Dharm (Righteousness), Arth (Material Pursuits), Kaam (Contentment) and Moksh (Enlightenment). Its lucky that we are blessed to travel the holy places with good health and spirits. Love to share my experiences to the places we have travelled.
Ashta
Dasha Shakti Peethas
This list
of Ashtadasa Shakti peethas is collected from a Shloka written by
Adi Shankaracharya.
Lankayam Shankari devi,
Kamakshi Kanchika pure /
Pradyumne Shrinkhala devi,
Chamunda Krouncha pattane //
Alampure Jogulamba, Sri
shaile Bhramarambika /
Kolha pure Maha lakshmi,
Mahurye Ekaveerika //
Ujjainyam Maha kali,
Peethikayam Puruhutika /
Odhyane Girija devi, Manikya
Daksha vatike //
Hari kshetre Kama rupi,
Prayage Madhaveshwari /
Jwalayam Vishnavi devi, Gaya
Mangalya gourika //
Varanasyam Vishalakshi,
Kashmire tu Saraswati /
Ashtadasha Shakti peethani, Yoginamapi durlabham //
Sayamkale pathennityam, Sarva shatri vinashanam /
Sarva roga haram divyam, Sarva sampatkaram shubham
//
Jai
Matadi The background of the
story is like this
There was a great king called Daksha Prajapati who was son of Lord
Brahma. He had 27 daughters and Sati devi is one among them. Sati
devi got married to Lord Shiva. When Dashka entered the arena of a
yaga performed by Agni, every one except Lord Shiva stood up as a
mark of respect. Daksha felt insulted by Lord Shiva's behaviour.
Later when Daksha conducted a yaga him self , he did not invite his
daughter and his son in law.Though Sati felt bad because of the non
invitation, she wanted to attend the yaga against the wish of Lord
Shiva.When Sati, attended the yaga no body has cared for her and
she felt insulted by the actions of her sisters and parents. Then
when her father started abusing her husband she could not control
her feelings and sacrified herself at the place of yagna by
creating agni from earth with her right thumb of her foot.Knowing
this Lord Shiva removed one bunch of Jhatha from his head and hit
it on the earth. From that Lord Veerabhadra has born and rushed to
yaga spot and killed Daksha by cutting his head. Later Shiva went
to the spot and taken the body of sati from the fire and started
dancing with it. The world was terrorized from this Tandava Nritya
and to stop this Nritya, Vishnu used his Sudarshan chakra and
completely cut the Sati's body in to pieces. These body parts have
fallen at various places in India and Srilanka. Where ever these
parts have fallen the places are called Shaktipeethas. There are 18
such places and they are called Ashta (8) Dasa(10) Shakti peethas.
But some people say there are 51 shakti peethas and some say there
are 108 shakti peethas. But this blog is designed based on the
above shloka of Adi shankaracharya. The order given below is as per
the above shloka.
Shankari
Devi,Trimkomali
1) Lankayam Shankari Devi:The temple of Shankari Devi supposed to
be in Sri Lanka at Trimkomali. At present there is no temple
availble at this place and it is said that the temple was destroyed
by Portugese people between 16th to 17th century. My friend who was
posted from air force in Sri Lanka has confirmed the
same.
Body part : Devi's Groin has fallen here.
Goddess Kanchi Kamakshi Kamakshi Temple,
Kanchi
2) Kamakshi Kanchika pure : The goddess is famous by kanchi
kamakshi. A very popular shaktipeeth. It is 70 Km from Chennai.
Kanchi Kamakshi temple is situated at about 5 acres of land and has
four entrances. The main entrance of the temple has a Kalabhairavar
deity on its left and the Mahishasura Mardini deity on the right.
On the centre of the entrance you can see a huge Dwajasthampa.
Moving further to the entrance of the Kamakshi deity you can see a
Vinayaga deity. Moving on a straight line further, Goddess Kamakshi
is visible. Goddess Kamakshi is surrounded by deities of Ayyapan,
Saraswati, Annaporani and Adisankaracharya on its outer prakaram.
The Goddess also has Varahi, Arupalakshmi Kalvarperumal (one of the
108 Divya Desam of Vaishanavities), Roopalakshmi and
Arthanariswarar deities surrounding the sanctorum of Goddess on its
Gayatri Mandapam. There is Santhanasthampam inside the prakaram of
Goddess which is called the Nabisthan of the Goddess. There is a
Srichakra Yantra (Sri Kamakoti Peetam) established by Jagadguru Sri
Adisankaracharya in front of the Goddess deity. There is also a
temple tank inside the premises. Kamakshi temple has a close
relation with the Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam and its successive
Sankarcharyas. The temple has a gallery of Adisankarcharya's Life
history inside the temple premises itself. Goddess Kamakshi is the
main deity and the temple is one of the fifty one Shakti peetas.
The temple is spelled as Nabisthana - Ottiyana peetam. The temple
also has a golden Gopuram on the sanctorum of the Goddess Kamakshi
deity which is visible to all devotees.
Body part : Devi's Back part has fallen here.
Nabha Devi Temple
,Jindrah
3) Pradyumne Sharinkhala Devi : The goddess here is called Sri
Srukala Devi. The temple is supposed to be in Gujarat. But I could
not find it is spite of my staying there for 5 days. Some one says
it is at Prabhas pattan.Where Somanath temple is there, the place
is called Prabhas.It is 5Km from Veraval. One can go to Somanath by
Somanath exp No 1464 which goes from Jabalpur to somanath via
Bhopal, Ujjain, Ahmedabad and Rajkot. Prabhas pattan is 79 Km from
Junagaudh. It is said that the temple was distroyed by Md
Ghajani.
Some people say, the temple of Shrinkhala devi is near Kolkatta.It
is said that it is in Hugli dist in a place by name Pandua.I had
been to the place where the temple of Shrinkhala devi was supposed
to be in the past.but at present there is such temple in the place.
A minar was built there by muslim invaders. There were ruins of
temple infront of minar.There is a temple of Hanseswari mata which
is regarded as Shakti peetha which is very close to this
place.
Body part : Devi's stomach part has fallen
here.
As there is no temple of Devi in both the places one can visit Nabha Devi temple in Jammu at a place called Jindrah near Udhampur. Udhampur is 211 Km from Jammu. It is said that Devi's stomach part with navel has fallen here. As Nabhi(navel) has fallen here, the deity is called Nabha devi.
Chamundeswari
Temple
4) Chamunda Krouncha pattane : The goddess here is
called Chamundeswari devi. A very popular temple in Karnataka. The
Chamundeswari Temple is situated on a hill in the neighborhood of
Mysore. Krishnaraja III during the latter part of the 18th century
built this temple tower. He gifted the Nakshatramalika jewel which
has Sanskrit poesies engraved on it. The temple is adorned with
various epitomes of Nandi. The colossal Nandi is 15 feet wide and
24 feet long and was made during the reign of Dodda Devaraja. It
also has a seven floor ‘gopuram’. The idol of the Goddess is made
of gold and the entrance with shinning
silver.
Body part : Devi's head hairs have fallen
here.
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