Uma Shakti Peeth

Overview

Goddess Mahalaxmi temple located in Joinpur Village, Dakshin Surma, near Gtatikar is about 3 kms north east of sylhet town, Bangladesh. It is one of the 51 Shakti Peethas. Here Goddess Mahalakshmi is associated with the Bhairav form as Sambaranand. According to the belief of Shakti Peethas, Hindu goddess Sati 's neck fell in this place.

Legend and Stories

Once, Daksha Prajapati who is the son of Lord Brahma organised grand yagna (ritual of sacrifice) for which he invited everybody except Lord Shiva and his daughter Goddess Sati. Although no yagna can be fulfilled without Tridev (Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwar) he wanted to continue the yagna, that was presided by four prominent Sages. Sati wanted to attend the ritual performed by her father despite Lord Shiva’s request of not attending the yagna.

Reason behind Dakshas reluctance to invite Lord Shiva is because of his appearance and costumes ( as Lord Shiva wears tiger skin, apply ashes and puts poisonous snakes and skulls as his garments and always wanders in cremation grounds). Apart from this he is the person behind beheading one of the heads of his father Lord Brahma. (Once there was a verbal war between Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu, which lead both of them using deadly weapons of Maheshwar and Pashupat. In order to save this universe Lord Shiva took the form of pillar of fire and destroyed both weapons. In a greed to see beginning and ending of the pillar which was deep into patal and top is into sky, Lord Vishnu agreed to go to pataal world and Lord Brahma to the sky. Lord Vishnu was unsuccessful and Lord brahma transformed into swan and flew into sky where he saw one of the flower coming from the top of the pillar, he asked the flower where is the top of its creation, the flower replied that Though it was from the creation but didn't know its peak. In order to show Lord Brahma his superiority, he made an agreement with the flower to lie that Lord Brahma indeed saw the other end of the pillar of light. Lord Vishnu genuinely accepted superiority of Lord Brahma. Angered with the lie of Lord Brahma, Lord Shiva beheaded that head which lied and also cursed Brahma that he will not have any temple in any of the worlds)

Despite Lord Shiva's disapproval to attend the yagna goddess Sati attended the yagna where his father Daksha insulted her and Lord Shiva. Unable to withstand the insult goddess Sati fell into the fire of yagna and self- sacrificed herself. Hearing the news of Sati, Lord Shiva became furious and sent his ganas to avenge the death of Devi Sati, he also said whoever comes against you can kill all of them. They beheaded the head of Daksha and Lord Shiva wandered leaving hopes of life by carrying the corpse of Sati. Seeing Shivas grievance all worlds started suffering, in order to save the worlds, Lord Vishnu cut the corpse of Sati into 51 pieces. He also said goddess Sati will be reborn as Parvathi, the daughter of Himalayan King.

Places where the parts of Sati fell are now called as Shakti Peethas and place where Sati’s neck fell is Shri Shail, Bangladesh.

Festivals

During Navaratri, Devi is worshipped in a new form during all the 9 days. Durga puja and Shivarathri are the important festivals celebrated at Mahalaxmi Shakti Peeth temple.

Accessibility

Airport

Bangladesh can be reached by air from any part of the world. You can take a direct flight to Dhaka, the capital city, from 27 major cities in the world. Besides the national carrier, several international airlines also fly in and out of the country. The national airport is at Dhaka, 20kms from the city. You can rent a car; take a cab or bus to get you to the city.

Railways

There are no direct trains that can get you to Bangladesh from any neighbouring country.

Road

You can drive into Bangladesh from India from two points on the border – Benapol (from Calcutta) and Chilihati (from Darjeeling). These are the only two entry points on the India-Bangladesh border open at the moment. The roads are, however, best avoided during the monsoons (rainy season). The entry from Myanmar is no longer open.

Temple Address

Mahalaxmi Shakti Peeth,
Joinpur Village,
Sylhet District,
Bangladesh.