husband. To assuage her grief, Sati throws herself
on the fire. She dies but her body does not burn
up in the flames. Hearing of the loss of his wife,
Shiva becomes mad with grief. Inconsolable, he
wanders the Earth carrying his beloved on his
shoulder.
In order to stop Shiva’s dance of destruction
and to relieve him of the burden of his grief, the
gods BRAHMA and VISHNU decide someone must
intervene. Vishnu, the great preserver, follows
Shiva and cuts away at Sati’s body. The fallen
pieces of her body and limbs create over 50 shakti
pithas, which today are worshipped as sites sacred
to one of the many manifestations of DEVI such as
Kameshvari, Tara, Ambika, and Gauri. A bhairava
or fierce form of her beloved Shiva is often associ-
ated with each of these sites. These pithas have
also been associated with the 51 letters of the
Sanskrit alphabet.
The earliest mythological explanation of the
pithas can be found in the RIG VEDA (X.61.5–7).
Here we find the earliest association between the
sacrifice and desecration of body parts that later is
central to the Sati dismemberment myth.
Other legends tell of four important pithas that
are associated with the four cardinal directions.
These four sites (Kamarupa, Uddiyana, Jaland-
hara, Purnagiri) have been important pilgrimage
centers to yoginis and yogis. Some legends speak
of seven pithas; others speak of as many as 108
across the subcontinent.
Clearly these sites point to local cults of wor-
ship of the goddess in various manifestations.
Today many of these places have become pilgrim-
age centers to the goddess as Shakti: Ambika,
Parvat, Sati, Durga, Kaliet, and others. The various
legends in the tantras and Puranas are later myth-
ological explanations for what were originally
sacred Goddess sites.
For millennia the Goddess has been embed-
ded in the natural landscape. Lakes, ponds, or
pools have been conceived as her yoni; double
hills or mountains, her breasts. The pitha asso-
ciated with the Goddess’s breasts at Jalandhara-
giri, and her yoni or sexual organ at KAMAKHYA
remain two of the most frequented and revered
sites for contemporary pilgrims. To ancient peo-
ples the Earth itself was the divine mother, and
the popularity of these sites reflects an attempt
of later cultures to integrate these earlier tradi-
tions into their worship in order to attract more
followers.
At the pithas the Goddess is usually wor-
shipped in an iconic form. Often she is revered as
a stone that has been painted red (red is the color
of Shakti). Sometimes eyes and other anthropo-
morphic features are added. Originally these sites
were worshipped under various names of the
local tribal deities that later became syncretized
into the Brahminic fold of goddesses. This is
evident, in part, from the great variations in the
lists of shakti pithas and the names connected
with them.Further reading: K. C. Aryan, The Little Goddesses
(Matrikas) (New Delhi: Rekha Prakashan, 1980); D.
C. Sircar, The Sakta Pithas (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass
Publishers, 1973).Shakuntala See KALIDASA.
shalagrama
The shalagrama is a small stone sacred object,
usually three or four inches across with several
holes, used by devotees of VISHNU in their home
worship. It is made of black ammonite, from
Mount Gandaki in Nepal. A story in the BHAGA-
VATA PURANA (c. 1200 C.E.) explains why this black
stone is used for worship; another account is in
the TULSIDAS Ramcharitmanas (c. 1600 C.E.).
In the worship, water is dripped on the stone
and collected beneath. The water is later drunk
by the worshipper. Sometimes the shalagrama is
shown to dying persons to ensure that they go to
Vishnu’s heaven Vaikuntha, as it is seen to have
sacred power.shalagrama 401 J