Shakti Peeth

The Shakti Peetha (Sanskrit: शक्ति पीठ, Śakti Pīṭha, seat of Shakti) are significant shrines and pilgrimage destinations in Shaktism, the goddess-focused Hindu tradition. There are 52 or 108 Shakti peethas by various accounts, of which between 4 to 18 are named as Maha (major) in medieval Hindu texts. Most of these historic places of goddess worship are in India, but some are in Nepal, Bangladesh, and one each in Tibet (Mansarovar), Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Various legends explain how the Shakti peetha came into existence. The most popular is based on the story of the death of goddess Sati, the grief and crying by her husband god Shiva who held her dead body, then started his dance of destruction, causing Sati's body to disintegrate and fall into pieces. The sites where these portions of Sati goddess fell, are the Shakti peetha.

Lord Brahma performed a yajna (Vedic ritual of fire sacrifice) to please Shakti and Shiva. Goddess Shakti emerged, separating from Shiva and helped Brahma in the creation of the universe. Brahma decided to give Shakti back to Shiva. Therefore, his son Daksha performed several yagnas to obtain Shakti as his daughter in the form of Sati. It was then decided that Sati was brought into this world with the motive of getting married to Shiva.

However, due to Lord Shiva's curse to Brahma that his fifth head was cut off due to his lie in front of Shiva, Daksha started hating Lord Shiva and decided not to let Lord Shiva and Sati get married. However, Sati got attracted to Shiva and finally one day Shiva and Sati got married. This marriage only increased Daksha's hatred towards Lord Shiva.

Daksha performed a yagna with a desire to take revenge on Lord Shiva near Munimandala present Muramalla Andhra Pradesh. Daksha invited all the deities to the yajna except Lord Shiva and Sati. The fact that she was not invited did not deter Sati from attending the yagna. She expressed her desire to attend the yagna to Shiva, who tried his best to dissuade her from going. Shiva eventually relented and Sati went to the yagna. Sati, being an uninvited guest, was not given any respect at the yagna. Furthermore, Daksha insulted Shiva. Sati was unable to bear her father's insults toward her husband, so she immolated herself.

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