ASTADASA SHAKTHI PEETALU

Every one in India know's about the ASTADASA SHAKTHI PEETALU, on the occasion of DASARA I Want to List out the 18 Astadasa Shakthi peetalu and the main story behind it.

THE MAIN STORY OF ASTADASA SHAKTHI PEETALU 

Sati devi one amoung the 27 daughters of king called Daksha Prajapati marred to Lord Shiva. once Dashka came to the yaga perfomed by Agni, while entering the arena every one stood up as mark of respect except Lord Shiva, Daksha felt angry and insulted for Lord Shiva's behaviour.And when the Daksha conducted a yaga he didn't invite his daughter (Sati devi)and Lord Shiva,but, Sati devi want to attend the yaga against the wish of Lord Shiva,and when she entered the yaga nobody cared for her and her fater started abusing her husband she could not control her feelings and scarified herself at the place of yagna by creating agni from earth with her right thumb of her foot.Knowing this Lord Shiva removed one bunch of Jhatha from his head and hit it on the earth. From that Lord Veerabhadra has born and rushed to yaga spot and killed Daksha by cutting his head. Later Shiva went to the spot and taken the body of sati from the fire and started dancing with it. The world was terrorized from this Tandava Nritya and to stop this Nritya, Vishnu used his Sudarshan chakra and completely cut the Sati's body in to pieces. These body parts have fallen at various places in India and Srilanka. Where ever these parts have fallen the places are called Shaktipeethas. There are 18 such places and they are called Ashta(8) Dasa (10) Shaktipeethas. 

Story source : Special Yatra

1.Srisailam – Bhramaramba

This temple is situated in Srisailam,Kurnool,Andhra Pradesh 

This is a very famous divine tourist spot Srisailam is located deep in the Nallamala forest and there is no train route. But, AP State Road Transport Corporation Super luxury buses are available directly from Hyderabad and Vijayawada.

Srisailam is known as Siddhi kshetra. There is a Jyotirlinga and a Shakti Peetha at Srisailam.

2.Alampuram – Jogulamba

This temple is situated in Alampur,Near Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh 

Alampur is a town situated on the left bank of Tungbhadra river, in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The place falls in the Mahabubnagar district which is about 200 kilometres from the famous city, Hyderabad. Kurnool town, which is also a known place in Andhra Pradesh lies in the vicinity of around 30 kms.

3.Draksharamam – Manikyamba

This temple is situated in Draksharamam,East Godavari,Andhra Pradesh 

Draksharamam is at 50 km distance from Rajahmundry. It is well connected by Road route. APSRTC maintaining many buses from various Depos from Kakinada(30 km), Vijayawada(200 km),Vishakapatnam(190 km) etc.Nearest Railway station is Samarlakota and Kakinada which are at about 50 km and 30 km distance respectively.

4.Pithapuram-Puruhutika

This Temple is situated in Pithapuram,East Godavari Dist.,near Kakinada,Andhra Pradesh.

The temple of Puruhutika devi is located within the temple campus of Kukkuteswara swamy. Kukkuteswara swamy temple is present in the outskirts of the Pithapuram village towards Kakinada.

   5.   Guwahati-Kamarupini.

This Temple is situated in Nilachal Hills,Near Gauhati,Kamrup Dist.,Assam 

The temple of Kamakhya is located on a hill named, Nilachal, near Gauhati.

The main temple has seven bee hive shaped Sikharas, each topped by a golden Trishula. The temple consists of three major chambers. The western chamber is large and rectangular with an idol of Naga matha and is not used by the general pilgrims for worship. There is an idol of Chamundeswari towards south of this chamber. 

The middle chamber is a square, with a small idol of the Goddess. All the decoration and routine pujas of Kamakhya and Umananda are conducted here. It leads to the Garbha griha of the temple in the form of a cave, which consists of no image but a small natural underground spring. The spring emanates from a fissure in a large rock that symbolizes Yoni. Though the temple is aligned facing east like most Hindu temples, the worship of the Yoni is performed facing north.

6.Gaya-Mangala Gowri

This Temple is situated in Mangala Gauri Hill,Gaya, Bihar 

 This is a small brick temple facing east, built on top of the Mangalagowri hill. 

A flight of steps and a motorable road lead to the temple. The sanctum houses the symbol of the Goddess and it also has some finely carved ancient relief sculptures. A small hall or mandap stands in front of the temple. The courtyard also houses a fire pit for the homa.

7.Jwalamukhi-Vaishnavi

This Temple is situated in Himachal Pradesh ; Kangra

8.Srinagar-Saraswati or Sarika

This Temple is situated at Srinagar 

9.Mysore- Chamundeswari

This Temple is Situated in south-east of Mysore city, Karnataka, India

The Chamundeshwari Temple is located on the top of Chamundi Hills about 13 km from the palace city of Mysore in the state of Karnataka in India

10.Ujjain-Mahakali

This Temple is situated in Ujjaini city,Ujjani Dist.,Madhya Pradesh

In the temple, idol of Mahakali is placed in between the idols of Mahalakshmi and Saraswati. The temple of Sthirman ganesh is beside the temple of Garhkali.

Hanumatkeshwar Shiva linga is near the temple of Garhkali.

Simheshwar Shiva linga is in the temple of Sthirman ganesh. 

11.Mahur-Ekveera Devi

This Temple is situated in Mahur,Nanded,Maharashtra

12.Kolhapur-Mahalakshmi

This Temple is situated in Kolhapur,Maharashra

The statue of the Goddess Mahalakshmi is made of gemstone and is considered to be at least 5000 to 6000 years old. The temple belongs architecturally to the Kannada Chalukya empire and may have been first built in circa 700 AD. Mounted on a stone platform.

13.Jaipur- Girija

14.Trinkomalee, Sri Lanka – Sankari

This Temple is situated in Trinkomalee, Sri Lanka

The temple of Sankari devi which was exactly on the peak of a hill was ruined by foreign invadors.At present there is no temple availble at this place and it is said that the temple was destroyed by Portugese people between 16th to 17th century.

However, it is believed that the idol of amma has been preserved in the present temple which is by the side of the place where the idol originally used to be.

15.Kanchi – Kamakshi

This Temple is situated in Kanchipuram,Tamilnadu

16.Pradyumnam, Gujarat-Shrinkala

This Temple is situated in Gujarat.

17.Allahabad-Madhaveswari or Lalitha

Prayaga the Sakthi Peeth is Prayaga Madhaveswari or Called LALILTHA. 

 In this Prayag, the fingers of mata Sati fell down. Here Lord Shiva is known as Bhav. This temple is situated in the holy premises of Akshaywat in Vayavya corner of near the bank of Yamuna. 

18.Varanasi – Visalakshi

This Temple is situated in Varanasi,Uttar Pradesh.

Via : From Different sources , Main Source : shaktipeethas