Virat Shakti Peeth

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. At Virat the toes of her left foot are believed to have fallen (Bharatkosh says the right foot); the Devi is Ambika, 'the Mother', and the Bhairav Amrit. Viratnagar is full of memories of the Mahabharat. In the thirteenth year of their exile the Pandavas and Draupadi lived here in disguise at the court of King Virat, and many spots still carry their names, such as Bhim ki Gufa and the Bhim Talab on the Panchkhand hill. Bharatkosh says the peeth is in the village near Bhim's cave, beside the old ruins of Virat's city. The sources do not clearly name a temple of Maa Ambika, and some lists describe the place only as 'near Bharatpur'. Bengali tradition places this peeth far away, at Patiram in Dakshin Dinajpur, West Bengal.