Virata is the last of the 51 Shakti Peethas of the Pithanirnaya; by the text Sati’s toes fell "in the middle of the Virata country", and the goddess is Ambika and the Bhairava Amrita. The ancient Virata (Matsya) country lay in the Jaipur-Alwar-Bharatpur region, but the historian D. C. Sircar notes that later writers also placed a Virata in northern Bengal.
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- Deity
- Ambika
- Tradition
- Shakta
- Place
- Disputed: the ancient Virata (Matsya) country, i.e. the Jaipur-Alwar-Bharatpur region, or a Virata in northern Bengal
- State
- Rajasthan or West Bengal
- Country
- India
Where the sources differ
- Some popular lists today link this pitha with a temple, but we found no official or scholarly source for it; so no temple and no map are given here.
- According to Sircar the original Pithanirnaya probably had 42 names and the last eight pithas (Nalahati to Virata) were added later; this pitha is one of those eight.
- The count of pithas depends on the text: the Pithanirnaya lists 51, some Bengali lists 52, the Devi Bhagavata (7.30) gives 108 places with names of the goddess, and the early Tantras name only four (Sircar).
Frequently asked questions
Which limb of Sati fell at the Virata Shakti Peetha?
By the Pithanirnaya, the toes; the goddess is Ambika and the Bhairava Amrita. The place is disputed: the Virata (Matsya) country of Rajasthan, or northern Bengal.
Where is Virata Shakti Peetha?
Virata Shakti Peetha is in Disputed: the ancient Virata (Matsya) country, i.e. the Jaipur-Alwar-Bharatpur region, or a Virata in northern Bengal, Rajasthan or West Bengal.
Which lists of tirthas include Virata Shakti Peetha?
The 51 Shakti Peethas (number 51 of 51 in the list).
Sources
- D. C. Sircar, The Śākta Pīṭhas (Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal 1948; Motilal Banarsidass, 1973): table of the Pithanirnaya pp. 35-37, note on this pitha p. 57 (archive.org)
- Vachaspatyam (Taranatha Tarkavachaspati), "pitha": the list of pithas quoted from the Tantrachudamani (Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries, sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de)
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