SHAKTI : 51 SACRED PEETHAS OF THE GODDESS (PB)

This book is devoted to the
understanding of the omnipresent and all-powerful shakti and her sacred
abodes known as peethas. The story of Devi Sati and Lord Shiva ended
tragically with the death of Sati. An angry and inconsolable Shiva took
Sati’s lifeless body and started the ‘Rudra Tandava’ or the dance of
destruction. To save the world, Lord Vishnu used his ‘Sudarshan chakra’ to
cut the body of Sati into 51 pieces and each part fell at different places on
Earth and each become a revered shakti Peetha. Renowned writer and historian
Dr Alka pande narrates that while the shakti Peetha represent a single
philosophical fold, they are a testament to the diverse legends of shakti.
Different peethas which became holy at the touch of Sati’s body have survived
hundreds of centuries and have kept alive their local folklore of shakti.
Together they evoke the mother goddess as both the nourishing and the
destructive force behind the existence of the cosmos. The 51 peethas featured
in the book can never be an absolute representation of the peethas of the
goddess, since the Devi is anywhere and everywhere.