TheShakta pithas, also calledShakti pithas orSati pithas (Sanskrit:शाक्त पीठ,Śakta Pīṭha,seats of Shakti^[1]), are significantshrines and pilgrimage destinations inShaktism, themother goddess denomination inHinduism. The shrines are dedicated to various forms ofAdi Shakti.^[a] VariousPuranas such asSrimad Devi Bhagavatam state the existence of a varying number of 51, 52, 64 and 108 Shakta pithas^[2][3] of which 18 are named as AstadashaMaha (major) in medieval Hindu texts.^[2]

Legends abound about how the Shakta pithas came into existence. The most popular is based on the story of the death ofSati, 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 51 body parts, using hisSudarshana 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 ofBhairava.

Most of these historic places of goddess worship are inNepal and India, but there are seven inBangladesh, two inPakistan, and one each inTibet,Sri Lanka^[3] andBhutan.^[6] There were many legends in ancient and modern sources that document this evidence. A consensus view on the number and location of the precise sites where goddess Sati's corpse fell is lacking, although certain sites are more well-regarded than others.

Maximum number of Shakta pithas are present in theBengal region. During partition the numbers wereWest Bengal (18, 1 disputed asShrinkhala Devi Temple) andBangladesh (7). After the secret transfer of Dhakeshwari Shakta pitha to Kolkata the numbers stand as West Bengal (19,1 disputed Shrinkhala Devi Temple) and Bangladesh (6).

TheBrahmanda Purana, one of the major eighteenPuranas mentions 64 Shakta pithas of the goddessParvati in theBharat orGreater India including present-day India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, some parts of Southern Tibet in China and parts of southern Pakistan. Another text which gives a listing of these shrines, is theShakta Pitha Stotram, written byAdi Shankara, the 9th-century Hindu philosopher.^[7]

According to the manuscriptMahapithapurana (c. 1690–1720 CE), there are 52 such places. Among them, 23 are located in theBengal region, 14 of these are located in what is nowWest Bengal, India, 1 in Baster (Chhattisgarh), while 7 are in what is nowBangladesh.

According to legend, lordBrahma once conducted a hugeyajna (ritual sacrifice), where all the prajapatis, deities, and kings of the world were invited. Shiva and Sati were also called on to participate in the yajna. All of them came for the yajna, and sat in the ceremonial place. Daksha came last. When he arrived, everyone in the yajna, with the exception of Brahma and Shiva, stood up, showing their reverence for him.^[8] Brahma, being Daksha's father, did not rise. Shiva, being Daksha's son-in-law, and also due to the fact that he considered himself superior in stature to Daksha, remained seated. Daksha misunderstood Shiva's gesture, and considered this act an insult. Daksha vowed to take revenge on the insult in the same manner.^[9]

Daksha performed a yajna with a desire to take revenge on Shiva. Daksha invited all the deities to the yajna, except Shiva and Sati. The fact that she was not invited did not deter Sati's desire to attend the yajna. She expressed her desire to Shiva, who tried his best to dissuade her from going. He relented at her continued insistence, Sati went to her father's yajna. However, Sati was not given her due respect at the yajna, and had to bear witness to Daksha's insults aimed at Shiva. Anguished, Sati cursed her father and self-immolated.

Enraged at the insult and death of his spouse, Shiva in hisVirabhadraavatar destroyed Daksha's yajna and cut off his head. His anger not abated and immersed in grief, Shiva then picked up the remains of Sati's body and performed theTandava, the celestial dance of destruction, across all creation. Frightened, the other deities requestedVishnu to intervene to stop this destruction. As a recourse, Vishnu used theSudarshana Chakra on Sati's corpse. This caused various parts of Sati's body to fall at several spots across the world.^[10]

The history ofDaksha yajna and Sati's self-immolation had immense significance in shaping the ancientSanskrit literature and influenced the culture of India. Each of the places on Earth where Sati's body parts were known to have fallen were then considered as Shakta pithas and were deemed places of great spiritual importance.^[11] Several stories in the Puranas and other Hindu religious books refer to the Daksha yajna. It is an important incident in bothShaivism andShaktism, and marks the replacement ofSati withParvati, and of the beginning of Shiva's house-holder (grihastāshramī) life from an ascetic. This event is ahead of the emergence of both of the couple's children,Kartikeya andGanesha.^[12]

Each temple has shrines for Shakti andKalabhairava, and most Shakti and Kalabhairava in different Shakta pithas have different names.

The scriptures, which include theKalika Purana, recognize four Shakta pithas as sites where most of the energy is.Vimala where the feet fell (Pada Khanda),Tara Tarini housing the breasts (Stana Khanda),Kamakhya, where the genitals fell (Yoni Khanda) andDakshina Kalika, where the toes of right foot fell. These four temples originated from the lifeless body of Sati.^[13]

Apart from these 4 there are 48 other famous pithas recognized by religious texts. According to thePithanirnaya Tantra the 51 pithas are in the present day countries of India,Sri Lanka,Bangladesh,Nepal, Tibet,Bhutan and Pakistan. TheShivacharita besides listing 51 maha-pithas, speaks about 26 more upa-pithas. The Bengalialmanac,Vishuddha Siddhanta Panjika too describes the 51 pithas including the present modified addresses. A few of the several accepted listings are given below.^[14] In South India,Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh became the site for a 2nd-century temple.^[15]

There are believed to be 64 locations.Adi Shankara'sAshtadasha Shakta pitha Stotram mentions 18 locations known as theMaha Shakta pithas.^[16][17] Among these, the Shakta pithas atKamakhya,Gaya andUjjain are regarded as the most sacred as they symbolize the three most important aspects of the Mother Goddess viz. Creation (Kamarupa Devi), Nourishment (Sarvamangala Devi/Mangalagauri), and Annihilation (Mahakali Devi).

Sharadha pitha is currently in a ruined state.^[18] Only ruins are found in these places. Its ruins are near theLine of Control (LOC)^[19] between the Indian and Pakistani-controlled portions of the formerprincely state ofKashmir and Jammu. Instead,Sringeri Sharada pitham,Sringeri in Karnataka even though not a Shakta pithas, is this aspect of the goddess. It is believed that Goddess Sharada moved from her ruined temple in Kashmir to live in the new temple in Sringeri. Requests have been made by the Hindu community in Pakistan to the Pakistani government to renovate the temple, the issue being raised by former Indian Home ministerL. K. Advani to the Pakistan authorities^[20] as a confidence-building measure, by increasing the people-to-people cross-border interaction.^[19]

Currently, a new Sharada pitha temple has been inaugurated and consecrated by the Indian Government and theSringeri Sharada Peetham in 2023, in Kupwara district, Jammu and Kashmir, on the other side of the LOC and much farther from the original temple. The Indian Government is planning an international corridor between the old Sharada pitha and India.

As per Sankara Samhita ofSkanda Purana,^[21]

1. Sri Sankari Pitham (Sri Lanka)
2. Sri Simhika Pitham (Simhala)
3. Sri Manika Pitham (Draksharamam, Dakshavati)
4. Sri Shadkala Pitham (Peethapuram)
5. Sri Bhramaramba Pitham (Srisailam)
6. Sri Vijaya Pitham (Vijayapura)
7. Sri Mahalakshmi Pitham (Kolhapur)
8. Sri padmakshi renuka Pitham (Mahurgad)
9. Sri Kamakoti Pitham (Kanchipuram)
10. Sri Kuchananda Pitham (Salagrama)
11. Sri Biraja Pitham (Jajpur)
12. Sri Bhadreshwari Pitham (Harmyagiri)
13. Sri Mahakali Pitham (Ujjain)
14. Sri Vindhyavasini Pitham (Vindhya mountains)
15. Sri Mahayogi Pitham (Ahicchatra)
16. Sri Kanyaka Pitham (Kanyakumari)
17. Sri Vishalakshi Pitham (Varanasi)
18. Sri Saraswati Pitham (Kashmir)
19. Sri Abhirami Pitham (Padmagiri,Dindigul)

In the listings^{[22][23][24][25]} below:

• "Shakti" refers to the Goddess worshipped at each location, all being manifestations of GoddessSati; later known asParvati orDurga;
• "Bhairava" refers to the corresponding consort, each a manifestation of Shiva;
• "Body Part or Ornament" refers to the body part or piece of jewellery that fell to earth, at the location on which the respective temple is built.

More details on this are available in the text 'Tantrachūḍamanī'^[26] where Parvati tells these details to her sonSkanda.

Important: 1) The main idol of the Dhakeshwari Shaktipeeth inBangladesh is currently relocated to the Kumartuli Dhakeshwari Temple inKolkata,West Bengal. The temple priest fled to India with the main idol during thepartition via a specially chartered train. While in the original shrine, a replica is placed. The original holy gem of Goddess Sati was lost long before (the factual date is unknown). So for the actual idol, visit theKumartoli shrine.

2) The Shrinkhala Shaktipeeth (one of 18 Maha Shakti Peethas) inHooghly,West Bengal, is a disputed site. The original shrine was destroyed during thepartition of India in 1947 and an IslamicMinar was built there by the Muslims. Years later, a door claimed by the locals as the door to the sanctum of the temple is closed by theASI. The Hindus claim that the temple was destroyed and the minar was built there. It is claimed that the idol of Goddess Shrinkhala was taken toSringeri in Karnataka but no such evidence exists there to date because a different Sharada Devi Temple was built there byAdi Shankaracharya. At present in the Hooghly district, only the Ratnabali Shaktipeeth is present.

Other Shakipeeths:-

The following shrines are not recognised as the Shakti Peethas, but are still claimed by the devotees and priests, for various reasons.

1. Jwala Devi Temple inJobner,Rajasthan, India

2. Jayanti Kali Temple (location disputed)

3. Asamai Devi Temple inKabul,Afghanistan

4.Juranpur Kali Temple in West Bengal, India

5. Sarbamangala Temple inBurdwan, West Bengal (the temple priests claim that Goddess Sati's body part fell here)

6. Jogamaya Shaktipeeth in Kalahandi, Odisha, India

There are disputes about the location of the Jayanti Shakti Pitha. Based on most presented manuscripts and facts it is situated in the namesakeJaintiapur Upazila town,Bangladesh, which was previously the capital of the Jaintia Hills tribe kingdom, in the Jaintia Hills district of Meghalaya, India, excluding Jaintiapur. However, some people say that it is the Nartiang Durga temple which is the real Jayanti Temple, though there is a shortage of evidence. Some other people^[34] argue the actual shrine is atAmta in West Bengal, where the goddess is worshiped asMaa Melai Chandi inMelai Chandi Mandir. But this fact can not be corroborated with any evidence. Moreover, refuting most texts, in Melai Chandi Mandir, the Bhairava isDurgeshwar rather thanKramadishwar. Some also identify the Jayanti shrine with theMahakal cave temple situated in the villageJayanti ofAlipurduar in India,^[35][36] where many statues were created byStalagmites andStalactites (natural rock formations), but there is no evidence.

TheVindhyavasini Shakta pitha is considered a Shakta pitha even though any body parts of Sati did not fall there. Vindhyavasini is the ultimate and the highest form of the goddess, she is calledAdi Parashakti. Goddess Vindhyavasini is considered the embodiment of all of theMahavidyas,Navadurgas,Matrikas,Yoginis and all the other goddesses present in this universe, she isTripura Sundari herself. Many legends are associated with Vindhyavasini, she is also calledMahadurga. She is the combined form of all 108 Shakta pithas as mentioned in theDevi Bhagavata Purana text. This is because it is the place where the goddess chose to reside after her birth inDvapara Yuga.^[37]At the time of the birth ofKrishna toDevaki andVasudeva,Vindhyavasini took birth inGokula toNanda andYashoda as per the instruction of LordVishnu. Vasudeva replaced his son Krishna with this girl child of Yashoda so that Krishna could escape his demon uncleKamsa, whom he would kill later according to a prophecy. When Kamsa tried to kill the girl, she slipped from his hands, assumed her true form and warned Kamsa that his killer (Krishna) still lived on. She leftMathura and the goddess chose theVindhya Mountains as her abode to live on the earth. It is also believed that Vindhyavasini is the sister of Krishna.^[37]

• Hindu pilgrimage (yatra)
• Hindu pilgrimage sites
• List of Hindu temples
• List of Mansa Devi temples

• Dineschandra Sircar (1998).The Śākta Pīṭhas. Motilal Banarsidass Publ.ISBN 978-81-208-0879-9.

• 52 Shakta pithas mapArchived 2008-11-13 at theWayback Machine
• Comprehensive guide on 51 Shakta pithas
• Daksha Yagna – The story of Daksha's sacrifice and the origin of the Shakta pithas