I must say that I was fortunate to have darshan of four sakthi peetams in one trip itself – all Her grace! Were these planned – no, absolutely not! It just happened! I am told that there are multiple versions of sakthi peetams…..
Here are the four we visited:
- Guhyeswari, Nepal
- Lake Manasarover – that lake itself is a sakthi peetam
- Goddess Lalitha @ Naimisharanyam
- Kanchi Kamakshi Temple
In Nepalgunj, we went to another temple Bageshwari Temple. They call it as a sakthi peetam (tongue of ambal) but others say that it is not a sakthi peetm.
It is interesting that there are only two sakthi peetams are in Tamilnadu – Kanchi Kamakshi and Suseendram – rest are all in North and I believe 1 or 2 are in Pakistan!!
I will try to do another write-up on Kailash Yatra with photos etc soon….
Guhyeswari Temple:
Lake Manasarover
Naimisharanyam:
Although, we originally planned to make it a separate trip from Lucknow, we ended up visiting this place on our way back from Nepalgunj to Lucknow….
Following are the notes from a devi upasaka who led this yatra:
The above is the idol of kameshwara and kameshwari on pancha brahmasana. This is unique in the sense that all the pancha veeravali will be holding the seat in the straight line instead of depicting as four legs and the seat. The beauty of this idol is the anyonya bhava between kameshwara and kameshvari….they look at each other with a samarasya and this also depicts the samarasya of the sukshma – the shri yantra. The seating posture of kameshwari here is very similar to that of kamalamba at thiruvarur. Kamalaalaya is considered the true chintamani gruha ..thiruvaarur..in sanskrit is called shri nagaram..
Kamakshi Amman Temple – no need for any photos 🙂
Bagyeshwari Temple, Nepalgunj
Categories: Devotee Experiences, Photos
I Respect all the comments. Since we lost the hope of the visit of the above said all places – due to the age factors etc-…. I appreciate and submit my salutations to one and all of the great souls who were visited there before 50- yrs 40 yrs… what a courageous heart they have….! During that time transport, medical, communication , food felicities were very very poor. Thank God. I once again request the fortunate people write more and more experiences of their own to read with tearful eyes of people like me… Thank you onceagain.I want to pay my Namaskarms to one and all of your lotus feet which was blessed to have a bath in the Manasarover lake and did the Kailash Girivalam…!!!
Bhakthi is pouring in Abundance
Thank you for sharing
Nice to see the photos.
Thanks for your forthright comments on the plight of pilgrims to Kailash thru get private operator via Nepal.
That is the reason why many tour operators opt for the Lhaasa route, avoiding the Nepal route totally. They directly fly to Lhaasa from Delhi and then proceed by bus to Manasarovar but this route is quite expensive.
Nepalgunj has been a forest area of Sal trees for ages and it was not open to the Indians to reach there till 1950 without permission form the then Nepal Government. The area was used mostly by the contractors to supply timber to the Indian Railways . The Terai forest area of Nepal along the Indian border was considered malaria infected area or Kalapani and persons punished for crimes with life long imprisonment were sent to that forest area as a punishment. The Indian contractors established small settlements to carry out their work.
I have visited the place about 50 years ago and it was a small village with one unmetaled mud street going to the Indian border. At that time there was no hotel to stay. I stayed in the Indian Government Irrigation guest house. Only after the Nepal government started to develop industries, this place got some importance. The Bagheswari temple was a small one built around 70years ago only and nearby people used to visit in the evening during the Aarathi time. Majority of the population are muslims. The only access to this place before 1960 was by train from Nepalgunj Road station across the Indian border.
With the development of tourism to visit the nearby Bardiya reserve forests where wild animals especially elephants and rhinoceros are preserved, Nepalgunj assumed importance due to transportation of food grains and other essentials to be transported by air to the far off hilly places where there were no roads to connect to the lower plains to take the goods by road.
Because the Chinese closed the road from Kathmandu to Kailash after the earthquake, this alternate route of going to Kahtmandu has been promoted by the tour orgnaisations to attract mainly the Indian pilgrims.
The Indian Government issued a travel advisory not to use the route during the monsoon, in the last week of May when there were heavy rains. During monsoon the air services to the Simikot from Nepalgunj will be affected and if the air services are stopped for 4-5 days, there will not be sufficient provision to feed the stranded tourists at Simikot or Hilsa at the north most point of Nepal border from where Nepal is re-entered from china .
Nobody can predict the safe return, but by God’s grace, .most of them return safely. If by any chance somebody is unable to return ,the Chinese operator will leave the body at Hilsa and go back. In the previous route from Kathmandu, the body will be brought to Kathmandu by road and handed over to the relatives at Kathmandu. Since there is no road form Hilsa or Simikot, the body has to be transported by helicopter only and cannot be brought by plane to Nepalgung. Recently for a body to be brought to Kathmandu from Simikot the helicopter company charged IRs. 8.5 lakhs.
The Tour organisers do not explain the probable risks in the tour to Kailash by this route. In other times, the tour in this route may be alright;but during monsoon and winter uncertainty is more.
Because of different weather conditions, the tourist have to stay to acclimatize one self to the higher altitude. What is the provision for stay and food at Simikot or Hilsa?
It is also advisable for persons more than 70 years old not to take the risk, especially when they have blood pressure/asthma and other breathing related ailments.
Now coming to Sakthi peedam, this place is not known to have been mentioned in any Puranas as a possible ancient sakthi peedam. This is also one way fo promoting the place because stranded Indian pilgrims will have to stay in Nepalgunj and they should have some avenue to spend their idle itme there..
Please excuse me for this long writing after seeing the advertisement of Kailash tour in the Sri Shankara TV channel, where no body seem to have been informed about the risk.
Great Pics and thanks for sharing.
We hope to see many more amazing pictures in the days to come.
The information that Mansarovar is considered by some as a Shakthi Peetam, is a news to me.
During my sojourn to Kailash earlier, I heard some friends saying that Mansarovar is the Milk-Ocean “Thiru Paarkadal) where all material objects had originated when it was churned by Devas and Asuras.
However the Tara-Devi Rock on the Dolma-La-Pass is considered as one of the Shakthi-Sthal atleast by a section of North Indians..She is the Guardian Deity of the Kailash Area and worshipped as such by the Buddhists. The Gowrikund, at the descent of Dolmala is considered to be Holy because of its association with Parvathi.
Anyhow, there are so many aspects of religion which we have to learn, and this piece of information is also one such.
Amazing pictures !!! Iam sure the experience was blissful. As always, sharing them with us gives us a chance to do a maanasika yatra to these places. Pls share more pics of Manasarovar from different angles if taken. Iam told that you can get to see siddha’s descent as stars/light forms to take a dip at the lake during the wee hours.
You are absolutely right Bhuvana Madam.
By the Grace of Maha Periyava, I was fortunate to witness this phenomenon of stars dipping into Mansarovar Lake during July’2014.
You can see this Divine even on a clear sky between 11 pm and 3 am on any day, sitting on the banks of Mansarovar
Its simply exhilarating and cannot be described in words..
I have seen all ur comments about the dress. Definitely when u visit. Temple there should
Be proper dress code. We were in Thailand for so many years. There whenu goto
Emerald Buddha temple all people should follow the dress code. The ladies should wear
Full skirt and the men should wear full pant. They are not supposed to show their legs.
All the people follow. India also they should follow such rules
In north India, the “access” to swami is lot different than South. In Kasi, you can take the ganga water and do abishekam to viswanathar by yourself….Likewise, there are so many kinds of devotees there…I have seen more bakthi-focus in India where we spend lot of time on other things. I am not saying that we can wear any dress to go to temple – I too strongly believe in proper attire for temple. In our case, we never planned to go naimisharanyam from nepalgunj – so everyone were dressed more travel-friendly and suddenly we took a turn to go there…I was on jeans but luckily my veshti was accessible…others’ bags were not accessible….like i said, i see more younger devotees in north being so pious than south. in south i do see youngsters but not many….my observation – i could be wrong…..
Thanks for the share of the wonderful pictures from your shakti peetam yatra !
A majority of the visitors to some of the shrines in remote areas (or areas inaccessible to devout) visit these places, as you said as tourists, with no devotional fervour. While there are restrictions in certain places, both for dress and food being sold in the places around the temple/shrine, a majority of the places have developed star-culture offering western life. For a devout visitor, a mere accommodation and satvik food are sufficient to visit and return home carrying the memories. In Tamil Nadu, where of all the people, the government laid down certain guidelines for temple visitors, which were struck down by the Courts. Thus, the courts have exceeded their jurisdiction and wrongly interpreting or interfering into some one else’s domain. Partly, we are responsible and partly the government (run by people who are not devouts) are responsible for the current state of affairs. There will be further decline but no improvement unless we change ourselves.
I am very privileged to see these photos. What a Baghyam! I am feeling the Shakthi even through the photographs. I can not imagine what would have been my feelings if I were to see these deities in person!!!!
One thing bothered me. When we go to these traditional Shakthi Peetams, wish people will adhere to traditional attires. Especially, I see men in jogging outfits, sleeveless T shirts etc. These are not tourist attractions!! Even if one is traveling, what all needed is to change before entire these powerful shrines. What is needed is a little thought. May be I am Old Fashioned!!!
vj