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Tripura Sundari Shakti Peeth

Matabari, Udaipur, Gomati district, Tripura

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Tripura Sundari Shakti Peeth
Photo: Yash raina, CC BY-SA 4.0

About

Maa Tripura Sundari's temple, known as Matabari, stands on a small hill at Udaipur in Tripura, about 55 km from Agartala. The hill is shaped like a tortoise's back, so the shrine is also called the Kurma Peeth. By tradition the right foot of Devi Sati fell here; the Devi is Tripura Sundari (Tripureshwari) and the Bhairav Tripuresh. The sanctum holds two black stone images: the five-foot Maa Tripura Sundari and the two-foot 'Chhoto Ma', a form of Maa Chandi. The square temple with its three-tiered roof was built in 1501 by Maharaja Dhanya Manikya. Devotees offer red hibiscus flowers and receive peda as prasad.

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, and Vishnu ji's Sudarshan chakra divided it; her right foot is believed to have fallen on this hill.

The temple's own story comes from the time of Maharaja Dhanya Manikya, around 1500. One night the Devi asked him in a dream to begin her worship on the hilltop near Udaipur, then the capital. But the temple on the hill was already dedicated to Vishnu ji, and the king did not know what to do. When the dream came again, he understood that Vishnu and Shakti are forms of the same Supreme, and Maa Tripura Sundari was installed there. The Rajmala chronicle says the image was brought from Chittagong. The kings of Tripura are said to have carried the small image, Chhoto Ma, with them into battle. Beside the temple lies the Kalyan Sagar lake, home to rare Bostami turtles that devotees feed and treat as sacred, because the hill itself is a Kurma (tortoise) peeth.

Visiting

October to March is pleasant; the Diwali mela draws lakhs of pilgrims. Udaipur is about 55 km from Agartala by road, and Udaipur railway station is close to Matabari. Nearby are the Bhubaneshwari temple, the Gunabati group of temples and old lakes such as Jagannath Dighi.

Festivals

  • Diwali mela, the big yearly fair held near the temple at Diwali

51 Shakti Peeths

Sources