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Bahula Shakti Peeth

Ketugram, Katwa subdivision, Purba Bardhaman district, West Bengal

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Bahula Shakti Peeth
Photo: Romam1988, CC BY-SA 4.0

About

The Bahula Shakti Peeth is at Ketugram, a village of Purba Bardhaman district in West Bengal, on the plain of the Ajay river west of Katwa. The village's old name was Bahula itself. The lists say the left arm of Devi Sati fell here. The Devi is worshipped as Bahula, a form of Maa Parvati, with stone images of Kartikeya and Ganesh ji beside her. Her Bhairav, Bhiruk, is worshipped as a Shivling at the nearby village of Shrikhanda. Some writers say the temple once stood on the bank of the Ajay; the river has since moved away.

The story

The Shakti Peeth story tells that after the sorrowful events at King Daksha's yagya, Shiv ji wandered in grief with Devi Sati's body until Vishnu ji's Sudarshan chakra divided it; at Ketugram her left arm is believed to have fallen.

Local tradition says Ketugram takes its name from Chandraketu, son of a king named Bhopal, and that Raja Chandraketu set up the stone image of Maa Bahula together with Kartikeya and Ganesh ji. The village also has a link with Bengali poetry. Some writers hold that Chandidas, the 14th-century poet of Vaishnav padavali songs, was born at Ketugram and later served as a priest of the Bahulakshi temple. A spot in the north of the village, believed to be his birthplace, is still called 'Chandibhita'.

Visiting

October to March is the pleasant season. Katwa junction is the nearest large railway station. Several other Shakti Peeths lie close by, such as Mangal Chandi at Ujani (Kogram) and Jogadya at Kshirgram; the Attahas temple at Dakshindihi, in the Ketugram area, is also one of the two places that claim the Attahas peeth.

51 Shakti Peeths

Sources