Yugadya Temple Kshirgram Shakti Peeth

Overview

Shakti Peethas are shrines or divine places of Goddess Sati. These are places that are believed to have the presence of Devi Shakti due to the falling of body parts of the corpse of Goddess Sati, when Lord Shiva carried it and wandered throughout Aryavartha in sorrow. There are 51 Shakti Peethas linking to the 51 alphabets in Sanskrit. Each temple has shrines for Goddess Shakti and Lord Kalabhairava. In most of the places Goddess Shakti and Lord Kalabharava are enshrined in different Shakti Peethas with different names. This is the one of the 51 Holy Shakti Peethas called as Shri Jugaadya Devi Shakti Peeth where a part of Sati’s right toe was fallen.

Yogadhya Shakti peeth or the Shri Jugaadya Devi Shakti Peeth is located in Khirgram Village in West Bengal. The idol of Goddess is known as Yogadaya. Here Lord Shiva is known as Khirakantha. The original temple of ancient times was destroyed during Muslim invasion. Later on in 1770-80, the southern side of the temple structure was rebuilt by King Kirti Chandra.

About The Temple

It is said that Nabinchandra, an architect of Daihat sculpted the idol of the main temple after the death of Ravana. Nabinchandra found that the original idol of Goddess Bhadrakali was missing from the temple who was worshipped by Hanu. Many also believe that Nabinchandra built this present idol of Mother Goddess when he couldn’t find the Buddhist idol Mahajan into the waters of Khirdighi. Even today the inner sanctum houses the idols he had built.Pilgrims can also visit the nearby Khirdighi and Sagardighi were the Devi first wore Her sankha, the two white bangles made from the conch. These are worn by the Bengali married women along with coral bangles as a mark of married women.

Shrine

The presiding deity is Devi Sati as Goddess Yogadhya, Mahishamardini, Blutadhari and Chintapurni Devi and Lord Shiva as Lord Khirakantha.

About The Deity

According to mythology, the right toe of Goddess Sati fell at this particular Shakti peeth. It is believed that the deity remains submerged under the Khirdighi, a nearby pond of the shrine. On every Baishakhi Sankranti, she comes out of the water and stays overnight inside the temple's inner sanctum. After yajnas and the special pujas, She again gets back into the water of the Khirdighi where She stays with Lord Khirakantha, her husband and an incarnation of Lord Shiva. The devotees believe that according to old legend, the same practices are carried on since ages.

Legend and Stories

Lord Brahma performed a yajna (Vedic ritual of fire sacrifice) to please Goddess Shakti and Lord Shiva. Goddess Shakti emerged, separating from Lord Shiva and helped Lord Brahma in the creation of the universe. Lord Brahma decided to give Goddess Shakti back to Lord Shiva. Therefore, his son Daksha performed several yagnas to obtain goddess Shakti as his daughter in the form of Sati. It was then decided that Sati was brought into this world with the motive of getting married to Lord Shiva. However, due to Lord Shiva’s curse to Lord Brahma that his fifth head was cut off due to his lies to Shiva, Daksha started hating Lord Shiva and decided not to let Lord Shiva and Sati to get married. However, Devi Sati got attracted to Lord Shiva and finally they got married. This marriage only increased Daksha’s hatred towards Lord Shiva.

Daksha performed a yagna with a desire to take revenge on Lord Shiva near munimandala present Muramalla in Andhra Pradesh. Daksha invited all the deities to the yajna except Lord Shiva and Goddess Sati. The fact that she was not invited did not deter Sati from attending the yagna. She expressed her desire to attend the yagna to Shiva, who tried his best to dissuade her from going. Shiva eventually relented and Sati went to the yagna. Sati, being an uninvited guest, was not given any respect at the yagna. Furthermore, Daksha insulted Lord Shiva. Sati was unable to bear her husband’s insult and immolated herself. Enraged at the insult and the injury, Lord Shiva in Virabhadra form destroyed Daksha’s yagna, cut off Daksha’s head, and later replaced it with that of a male goat as he restored him to life. Despite that Lord Shiva kept raging with anger. Gods prayed Lord Vishnu to calm Lord Shiva. Still immersed in grief, Shiva picked up the remains of Sati’s body, and performed the Tandava Nratya, the celestial dance of destruction, across the entire universe. The other Gods requested Vishnu to intervene and to stop this destruction. Lord Vishnu used the Sudarshana Chakra and cut through Devi Sati’s corpse. The various parts of the body fell at several spots all through the Indian subcontinent and formed sites which are known as Shakti Peethas today.

At all the Shakti Peethas, the Goddess Shakti is accompanied by her consort, Lord Bhairava (an incarnation of Lord Shiva). Goddess Shakti is an aspect of the Supreme Being Adi parashakti, the mother of the trimurti, the holy trinity in Hindu religion & scriptures. The history of Daksha yagna and Shakti’s self-immolation had immense significance in shaping the ancient Sanskrit literature and even had impact on the culture of India. It led to the development of the concept of Shakti Peethas and there by strengthening Shaktism. Enormous stories in Puranas & other Hindu religious books took the Daksha yagna as the reason for its origin. It is an important incident in Shaivism resulting in the emergence of Goddess Parvati in the place of Devi Shakti and making Lord Shiva a grihastashrami (house holder) leading to the origin of Ganapathy and Subrahmanya.

Dress code

No dress code is mentioned, though the devotees are expected to wear clean and traditional attire while visiting the Temple.

Accessibility

Airport

The nearest airport is Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Dumdum, Kolkata.

Railways

The nearest railway station is Katwa JN Railway Station.

Road

Regular buses ply from Kolkata and other important places across West Bengal. The nearest bus stand is Katwa Bus Station.

Nearby Places to Visit

1. Attahas Fullara Devi Temple
2. Bahula Devi Temple
3. Mangal Chandi Temple
4. Ujani Shakti Peeth

Temple Address

Yugadya temple, kshirgram shakti peeth,
kshirgram, District-Bardhaman, west bengal,
India, Pincode - 713143.