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Shakta pithas

Shrines in Shaktism, goddess-focused Hinduism

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Vaishno Devi Havana
Abhishek Chandra · Public domain

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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 108 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 Bhairava.

Most of these historic places of goddess worship are in India, but there are some in Nepal, seven in Bangladesh, two in Pakistan, and one each in Tibet, Sri Lanka and Bhutan.

Hinduism

Hindu literature

The Brahmanda Purana, one of the major eighteen Puranas mentions 64 Shakta pithas of the goddess Parvati. The Kalika Purana gives a list of seven pithas. A later Tantric text, the Kularṇava Tantra, lists the 18 pithas, and the Kubjika Tantra lists 42 pithas. The Pithanirnaya, also called the Mahapithanirupana describes 51 pithas, each associated with a form of the Goddess and a corresponding Bhairava. Sicar notes that a tradition of 52 pithas existed in parts of Bengal due to confusion in the transmission of pitha lists. The growth of the list has been linked to the expansion of Sakta sacred geography in early medieval period.

Daksha yajna

Prajapati Daksha organized a yajna but did not invite his daughter, Sati, or her husband, Shiva. Dakṣa said that Shiva is a kapālin, the king of goblins, and an inauspicious entity unworthy of receiving sacrificial shares. Despite Shiva's warnings that attending uninvited would lead to severe insult, Satī proceeded to her father's sacrificial enclosure. Upon arrival, Sati was subjected to further insults from Daksha regarding her husband. Unable to tolerate the disrespect, she resolved to abandon her physical body. Scriptural accounts vary on her method of death: some texts state she threw herself into the sacrificial fire, while others describe her using yogic concentration to release her life force. The Mahabhagavata Purana provides a specific variation, stating that Sati created a shadow-form to enter the flames and disrupt the ritual.

Upon learning of Sati's death, an enraged Shiva created Virabhadra, who was accompanied by Bhadrakali and Pramathas. Under Shiva's orders, Virabhadra destroyed the sacrificial grounds and decapitated Daksha. Later, after being pacified by Brahma and the other deities, Shiva revived Daksha by replacing his severed head with that of a goat.

Overwhelmed by grief, Lord Shiva placed the burnt corpse of Satī upon his shoulder and wandered through the cosmos. As he traversed the earth, the limbs and ornaments of the Goddess's body fell in various locations, transforming those sites into sacred Siddhapīṭhas or Śakti Pīṭhas. While the Mahabhagavata Purana enumerates 51 such sites, highlighting Kamakhya in Kamarupa as the prominent location where her yoni fell other scriptures, such as the Devi Bhagavata Purana, list 108 sacred Pithas.

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