Shakti Peeths in west bengal
Out of 52 Shakti Peeths which were created as a result of Sati’s body parts fallen to various places. Following are the places where Shakti Peeths are found in West Bengal.
Out of 52 Shakti Peeths which were created as a result of Sati’s body parts fallen to various places. Following are the places where Shakti Peeths are found in West Bengal.
Devi Sati’s right thigh fell in the city of Patna. This place is known as Patan Devi. It is also believed that Patna is named after Patan devi.
The places where parts of Sati have fallen are known as Shakti Peeths. City of Patna used to be known by the name “Magadha” in earlier times. Devi’s right thigh fell here and the idols are Devi as Sarvanandkari and Shiva as Vyomkesha.
The temple of Bari Patan Devi, Patna faces North, towards the Ganges river. The statues of the temple is in black stone. At the entrance of the temple there is a portico of dimension 1.5′ x 15′. After that there is a room of about 8′ x 8′ for gods namely, Mahakali, Maha Lakshmi and Maha Saraswati and Bhairav. All the idols are kept on simhasans (thrones) of about 4 square in cross section and have a height of about 7 feet. The goddesses are attired in sarees.
In Hindu mythology, these Goddesses protected Putraka, who was the founder of Pataliputra. A strange stone image has been found in a tank near the Bari Patan Devi Temple, Patna. That image has been kept in the eastern veranda of the main temple where this stone is being worshiped regularly.
Devotees can go to the temple at any time of the day. The temple does not distinguish between any caste or creed and hence is open for all religions and castes. Tuesday is a special day for the devotees and a large number of worshipers visit the temple. Promises are being made before the Goddess and on the fulfillment of the wishes devotees offer gifts and sarees in the temple.
This temple is situated in the Chowk area of Patna City. Once was considered as the main presiding deity of Patna. Over the years it has slipped to the second position of eminence, after the Bari Patan Devi temple, as city’s presiding deity, with epithet ‘Chhoti’ (smaller) to the more popular one, the Bari (bigger) Patan Devi. But according to a historian, this very temple (Chhoti Patendevi) which held the primary position as the city’s presiding deity during 18th and early 19th century.
The temple houses a host of intact and severed Brahmanical images, including, Ganesh, Vishnu and Surya. Beyond the temple, but within its precincts, lie in open fragments of door jumbs/lintels and yet other set of images. Of these, an impressive, but broken sun-image is the most prominent. According to many historians, it is very likely that some early medieval temple was built here.
Ambaji mata temple is one among the 52 Shakti Peethof India. It is situated at a distance of approximately 65 kilometers from Palanpur and 45 kilometers from Mount Abu and 20 kilometers from Abu Road near the Gujarat and Rajasthan border.
The Idol of Kali in this temple is unique and different from other Kali idols of Bengal. The idol is made of black stone and decorated with silver and gold. It has three huge eyes and a long protruding tongue made of gold and four hands, in two hands she holds a sword and a severed head and other two hands are blessing positions.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh, gilded the roof of the temple as a thanks giving after his success in Afghan war. Later his son Khadak Singh presented a pair of silver plated folding doors to the temple.