51 Shakti Peethas of  Goddess Shakti (Sati) :

                         The 51 Shakti Peethas are the most respected holy temples dedicated to Goddess Shakti also called Sati which is  believe  to be the original form of Goddess Parvati and Godess Durga as per Hindu mythology. Before knowing the story or legend of formation of these 51 Shakti Peethas, it will be better to understand the Hindu mythology about formation, continuance and destruction of universe and ultimate power or form of universe. 

                       As per Hindu mythology the ultimate power or reality of universe is called as ‘Braham’ also called ‘Trimurti’, the ‘Trimurti’ means ‘three forms. The three main Gods in  Hindu mythology are Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh (Shiva) and these three are collectively  known as ‘Trimurti’ means these are three forms of ‘Braham’ to perform separate duties in formation, continuance and destruction of  universe. It is believed that  Lord Brahma is responsible for the  create the universe, Lord Vishnu is responsible for the organization & preservation of   the universe and Lord Shiva (Mahesh or Maheshwar) is responsible for the  demolition of the universe at end. This arrangement of ‘Braham’ may be considered as different departments with its authorities in any organization to create and play it successfully. Further per Hindu mythology there are also ‘Tridevi’ which is the collective name of  the three main Goddess named as Saraswati associated with Lord Brahma, Lakshmi associated with Lord Vishnu and Parvati associated with Lord Shiva (Mahesh). Goddess Parvati is the wife of Lord Shiva (Mahesh) and she is the reincarnation (rebirth) of Godess Sati (Shakti) who was the first wife of Lord Shiva (Mahesh).  

                 The legend of Hindu mythology says that Lord Brahma performed a yagna (Vedic ceremony by sacrifice in fire) to get the blessing of Goddess Shakti and Lord Shiva vide which Goddess Shakti get separated from Lord Shiva to help Lord Brahma  in creation of universe. As per plan Goddess Shakti(Sati) had to return to Lord Shiva after creation of universe, but before so happened Lord Brahma’s son Prajapati Daksha (King of Kankhal) performed yagnas to get Goddess Shakti as his daughter with motive of marrying her with Lord Shiva.

             Goddess Shakti take birth as daughter of Prajapati Daksha and named as Sati. But Prajapati Daksha later on changed his decision to get married her with Lord Shiva as he started hating him  due to Lord Shiva’s curse to his father that fifth head of Lord Barhma was cut off in front of Shiva due to his lie (a separate story as a myth of Hindu mythology). However Sati ultimately got married with Lord Shiva due to her attraction with him but hating of Daksha increased for Shiva despite their marriage.

                                  Daksha organized a yajna and invited all deities of universe except Lord Shiva and Sati. Goddess Sati expressed her desire to Lord Shiva to attend the yajna. Lord Shiva advised her not to attend the yajna without being invited and tried his best to discourage her from going there. Despite this Goddess Sati decided to attend the yajna but she did not get due respect at yajna and Daksha insulted Lord Shiva when she asked the reason for not inviting them. Due to this distressed Sati cursed her father and got self immolated by jumping in yajna.     

                   This instance annoyed Lord Shiva who destroyed the yajna and cut off the head of Daksha, but this did not declined the anger of Lord Shiva who picked up the remains of sati’s body and  performed the Tandava (space dance of demolition). When all deities requested Lord Vishnu to save the universe from demolition, Lord Vishnu cut up the body of Sati in 108 parts by using his Sudarshana Chakra ( a divine weapon ) to get Lord Shiva came out from his this situation and to stop Tandava. It is beloved that 51 parts of Sati’s body fell on earth and other parts fell on other planets of universe. The places where these 51 parts of Sati’s body fell on earth became the Shakti Peethas and deity in these temples are the form of Goddess Sati(Shakti). Out of these 51 Shakti Peethas 38 are in India, 5 are in Bangladesh, 2 are in Pakistan, 3 are in Nepal , 1 in Tibet (China), 1 in Shiri Lanka and 1 in Bhutan .

             These 51 Shakti Peeth, important pilgrimage centers of Hindus,  are believed  to be holy dwellings of the divine energy of Goddess Shaki which brings enormous spiritual benefits to visitors.   

                 As per Hindu mythology Goddess Sati take rebirth as Parvati, wife of Lord Shiva, who was daughter of King Himavan (of Himalaya kingdom) and Queen Mena. Further as per Hindu mythology Goddess Durga is an incarnation of    Goddess Parvati, who took this avatar as Devi Durga to destroy Mahishasur a demon. There are nine avatars of Goddess Maa Durga named as Shailputri, Brahmcharini, Chandraghanta, Kushmanda, Skandmata, Katyani, Mahagauri and Siddhidatri worshiped during Navratri Pooja, an important nine days festival of Hindus,  from first day to ninth day respectively. 

List of 51 Shakti Peethas with their location is as under:

• The twelve (12 ) Jyotirlingas, famous pilgrimage centers of Hindus in India:
• Tourist Places/Sites/Destinations, Himachal Pradesh, India
• Tourist Places/ Sites/ Destinations, Uttarakhand, India.
• Tourist Places/Sites in Delhi
• Tourist Places/Sites in Chandigarh, India:
• Tourist Places/Destinations in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, India
• Tourist Places/Sites in Rajasthan state of India
• Tourist Places/Sites in Madhya Pradesh state of India.
• Tourist Places/Sites in Maharashtra State of India.
• Tourist Places/Sites in Kerala State of India
• Tourist Places/Sites in Tamil Nadu state of India
• Tourist Places/Destinations in Karnataka state of India
• Tourist Places/Destinations in Karnataka state of India