Shakti Pitha Temples

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                                    Shakti Pitha Temples


 The primary sacred places of the goddess in India are known as Shakti Pithas and they are listed in different texts as being 4, 18, 51 or 108 in number, each of these sites being associated with a particular part of Shakti's body. A fascinating legend gives insight into the miraculous healing powers of the Shakti Pithas.

History

Shakti Pitha was the daughter of King Daksa and Queen Prasuti. She was also the wife of Shiva, whom King Daksa disliked for being a rough ascetic and for marrying Shakti against his wishes. King Daksa once held a great ceremony, called a yagna, to which he invited neither his daughter nor son-in-law Shiva. Shakti was offended by this slight and attended the ceremony uninvited. Insulted by Daksa, she took her life by immolating herself in the ceremonial fire. On hearing this news, Shiva hastened to the house of Daksa, whom he decapitated, and then began to disrupt the ceremony and claim the body of his wife.

As the obstruction of the yagna ceremony would create havoc and severe ill effects on nature, the gods Brahma and Vishnu appealed to the grief-stricken Shiva, requesting that he permit the ceremony to be completed. Shiva complied and also affixed the head of the ram used in the ceremony to the decapitated body of Daksha. Returned to life, Daksha apologized to Shiva and begged for mercy from the Parabrahman (the Supreme Almighty who is formless) who informed him that Shiva was in fact a manifestation of Parabrahman. Daksha then became a great devotee of Shiva.

Some scholars have noted that the 51 Shakti Pitha temples may be linked to the 51 letters in the Sanskrit alphabet. Another series of 108 shrines of the goddess is mentioned in the texts and it has significant symbolic importance in Vedic astronomical and astrological systems. The number 108 is the product of 12 months and 9 zodiacs, the product of 36 varieties of divinities and 3 mythical realms, and the product of 27 lunar mansions and 4 directions.

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Sacred Sites of India



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