Karmandir करमंदिरहिंदीGet the app

Panchsagar Shakti Peeth

Exact place not known

ShareTelegramXFacebook
Panchsagar Shakti Peeth
Photo: Karmandir, AI illustration

Traditions differ: The location is not known. English Wikipedia names a Varahi (Panchsagar) temple near Champawat, Uttarakhand; Bharatkosh's page on this peeth and Art of Living say near Varanasi; Bengali Wikipedia says near Haridwar. English Wikipedia also gives the navel as an alternative to the lower teeth.

About

Panchsagar is named in the Tantra Chudamani as the Shakti Peeth where the lower teeth of Devi Sati fell. The Devi here is Varahi and the Bhairav is Maharudra. The exact place is not known, and different lists point to different places: a Varahi temple near Champawat in Uttarakhand (English Wikipedia), a place near Varanasi (Art of Living and Bharatkosh's page on this peeth) and a place near Haridwar (Bengali Wikipedia). Maa Varahi is one of the Matrikas, the mother-shaktis of the gods, and is shown with the face of a boar, like Varaha bhagwan.

The story

According to the Shakti Peeth tradition, after King Daksha's yagya Shiv ji wandered in grief carrying the body of Devi Sati. Vishnu ji's Sudarshan chakra then divided the body, and wherever a part or an ornament fell, a Shakti Peeth arose. The lower teeth are believed to have fallen at Panchsagar. Maa Varahi's story is told in the Durga Saptashati. When the Devi fought the armies of the asurs Shumbh and Nishumbh, the shaktis of the gods came forth in their own forms to help her: Brahmani, Maheshwari, Kaumari, Vaishnavi, Varahi, Narasimhi and Aindri. Varahi, the shakti of Varaha bhagwan, joined the Devi in battle. Because the place of Panchsagar is not certain, devotees honour the peeth at the shrines linked with it. The best known is the Maa Varahi temple at Devidhura in Champawat district of Uttarakhand, a hill shrine known for its Bagwal fair on Raksha Bandhan.

Visiting

As the place is uncertain, pilgrims visit one of the sites linked with it. Devidhura in Uttarakhand is about 45 km from Champawat; the weather there is good from March to June and September to November, and the Raksha Bandhan fair draws big crowds. The other claimed areas, Varanasi and Haridwar, are best visited from October to March.

Festivals

  • Chaitra and Ashwin Navratri
  • Bagwal fair at Devidhura on Raksha Bandhan

51 Shakti Peeths

Sources