Sir Jeshoreshwari Kali Shakthi Peeth Temple, Bangladesh.

Address

Sir Jeshoreshwari Kali Shakthi Peeth Temple, Ishwaripur Village, Bangladesh.

Diety

Shakti: Jashoreshwari Bhairava: Chanda Body part or ornament: Palms of hands and soles of the fee

Introduction

Jeshoreshwari Kali Temple is a Hindu Temple dedicated to Goddess Sakthi located in Ishwaripur, a village in Shyamnagarupazila of Satkhira. The name “Jeshoreshwari” means “Goddess of Jeshore”. This temple is considered as one of Shakti Peethas in Indian Subcontinent. Being one of the 51 Shakti Peethas of Hindu Mythology, this temple is one of the holiest sites for devotees of the Shakti sect of Hinduism. It is believed the temple was built by a brahman named Anari. He created a 100-door temple for the JeshoreshwariPeeth. But exact date of construction is not known. The Temple was extensively renovated by Lakshman Sen and Pratapaditya in their reigning periods in the late 13th Century AD. After 1971, the structure got crumbled. Now only the pillars of the original temple remain.

Puranic Significance

ANOTHER STORY OF SATI: In Hindu mythology, the son of Brahma, King Prajapati Daksha had a daughter named Sati. Princess Sati grew up adoring the legends and tales of Shiva, and when finally her age of getting married came, she knew it was only the ascetic Lord Shiva of Kailash where her heart and soul resided. Soon enough, Daksha’s daughter left her father’s luxuries and palace and began her meditation to win Shiva’s heart. She performed intense penance in dense forests and renounced food completely. When she finally pleased Shiva through her austerities, the lord of Kailash appeared in front of her and agreed to marry her. The legend goes that Sati and Shiva were happy in their marital bliss, but their marriage had not gone down too well with King Daksha, who considered ascetic Shiva nothing short of an uncouth lad who lives a hermit’s life not worthy of his daughter. So when Daksha organized a great yajna, he invited all the deities, gods and sages–but consciously excluded his son-in-law Shiva to insult him. Hurt by her father’s decision, Sati decided to visit her father and demand the reason for not inviting them. When she entered Daksha’s palace, she was bombarded with insults directed towards the Shiva. Haughty and proud King Prajapati Daksha called him all sorts of names right from a dishevelled god who hung out in graveyard to the supposed ‘lord of the beasts’. Unable to bear anything against her husband, a devastated Goddess Sati threw herself in the glowing scared fire of yajna. When Shiva’s attendants informed him about the demise of his wife, he grew enraged and created Veerbhadra from a lock of his hair. Veerbhadra created havoc in Daksha’s palace and killed him. Meanwhile, mourning his beloved soulmate’s death, Shiva tenderly held Sati’s body and started his dance of destruction (taandav). To save the universe and bring back Shiva’s sanity, Lord Vishnu cut Sati’s lifeless body using Sudharshan Chakra into 51 pieces.Jeshoreshwari is regarded as one of the 51 Peeth of Sati; according to the belief, it is where the various parts of Sati’s body are said to have fallen. Jeshoreshwari represents the site where the palm of Sati fell. Legend says that the General of Maharaja Pratapaditya discovered a luminantray of light coming from the bushes, and came upon a piece of stone carved in the form of a human palm. Later, Pratapaditya started worshiping Kali, building the Jeshoreshwari Kali Temple. As to be the “Goddess of Jessore”, it was named after Jessore.