Month February 2014

Is Kanchi Kamakshi a Shakti Peetam

I posted an article on the 18 Shakti Peetams by Adi Shankaracharya and followed it up with a Post on the The Shakti Peetam A Complete List.

I received emails that complaining that I have included Kanchi Kamakshi as a Shakti Peeta in my 18 Shakti Peetas Post.

On posting The Shakti Peetams Complete List I have received more emails pointing out that I have not included the Kamakshi temple in the Post.

A writer who has Publisheda Book on the Shakti Peetams wanted to know the actual position of Kancipuram as a Shakti Peeta.

If one notices the complete list of the Shakti Peetas complete list, it will be noticed only Four places in the South have been named as Shakti Peetas.

1. The Bhagavathy temple in Kanyakumari,-This is thought to be situated in Yunnan province, China.

2.Sarvashail or Godavaritir, at Kotilingeswar temple on the banks of Godavari river near Rajamundry.

3. Srisailam in Shriparvat hills under Kurnool district. This is also thought to be in Shri Parvat, near Ladak, Jammu and Kashmir.

4. Shuchi, in a Shiva temple at Suchindrum 11 km on Kanyakumari Trivandrum road

This is based on Brahmanda Purana, one of the major eighteen Puranas, it mentions 64 Shakthi Peetha of Goddess Parvati in the Bharat or Greater India including present day India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

According to the manuscript Mahapithapurana (c. 1690 – 1720 CE), there are 52 such places. Among them, 23 are located in the Bengal region, 14 of these are located in what is now West Bengal, India, 1 in Baster (Chhattisgarh), while 7 are in what is now Bangladesh.

Rishi Markandeya composed the 'Devi Saptashati' or the seven hundred hymns extolling the virtues of the Divine Goddess at the shaktipeetha in Nashik. The idol is also leaning a little to the left to listen to the sages composition. The Saptashati or the "Durga Stuti" forms an integral part in the vedic form of Shakti worship.

Shakti Peeta Complete List

About a week back I chanced upon a copy of Bhaskararaya's commentary on Sri Lalita Sahasranama.

I posted an article on this with the intention of posting some more on the subject.

Somehow I never got around dong it.

Reason was I wanted to get to know further details on Shakti worship and tantra Shastra.

Though I am reasonably with the Tantra Shastra I had reservations.

Now , as it happens when I think of writing some thing, the reference books keep coming to me, with out my seeking them.

I have now two excellent references.

So the post.

Apart from worshiping God as an Impersonal principle, Hinduism treats them as Personal Gods with Human Attributes.

Thus one would find Upanishads,Purusha Suktha efining or describing th Brahman as the Ultimate Reality,we also have Narayana Suktam,Sri Suktam,Vishnu Suktam,Durga Suktam, Rudra and Chamaka, not to speak of the innumerable Slokas.

In the case of Shaki or Devi Worship, the worship has gone into greater lengths and as a personal God, her Body parts are reported to have been scattered over a wide area, after the Self immolation of the Sati Devi at the Daksha Yaga.