Sri Bahula Shakti Peeth temple, West Bengal

Address

Sri Bahula temple, Ketugram Ambalgram Rd, Ketugram, West Bengal 713140

Diety

Shakti: Bahula Bhairava: Bhiruk Body part or ornament:Left arm

Introduction

Bahula Devi Temple is located in Ketugram village, around 8 kms from Katwa Station, Burdwan district. The Temple is near the banks of Ajay River … Eight kilometres from Katwa in Burdwan, there is yet another manifestation of the female spiritual energy of the universe. West Bengal is blessed with the Bahula temple which is located on the banks of the Ajay river at Ketugram. The Bahula Temple is an ancient temple which boasts of wonderful architecture. The temple has a large courtyard right in the front of the garbhagriha and the flooring has been done in red stone. The temple has a serene environment that will immediately calm your senses. God can truly be attained in that environment when you hear the chiming of temple bells and the chanting of mantras fusing together with your faith.

Puranic Significance

Maa Sati’s left arm is said to have fallen in Ketugram when Lord Vishnu used his Sudarshan Chakra on the burnt corpse to save the world from Lord Shiva’s deadly dance of destruction. ‘Bahu’ in Sanskrit incidentally means ‘arm’. ‘Bahula’, on the other hand, means lavish and refers to the prosperity that this goddess brings 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.An awe-inspiring power of the Universe – “Bahulashaktipeetha” is one of the historic places in India, where the divine power is worshipped as a Devi Shakti by Hindu devotees and daily offered with sweets and fruits in the morning. According to the Hindu mythology, it is whispered that Devi Sati’s “Left Arm” fell here. The main idols of this legendary divine place are Devi as “Bahula” (lavish) and Lord Shiva as “Bhiruk” (sarvasiddhidayak), worshipped here. The holy place is dedicated to MaaDurga and Lord Shiva.