Sri Nartiang Durga Shakti Peeth Temple, Meghalaya

Address

Sri Nartiang Durga Temple Nartiang Village West Jaintia Hills district Meghalaya 793150

Diety

Shakti: Jayanti Bhairava: Kramadishwar Body part or ornament: Left thigh

Introduction

NartiangDurga Temple is a 600-year-old Durga Temple located in the West Jaintia Hills district of Meghalaya, a state in North-Eastern India.The tribal Hindus in the Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya believes that this temple is the permanent abode of Goddess Durga.The temple draws a large number of pilgrims from all over the country on occasion of Durga Puja.The Shakti of Nartiang Devi shrine is worshipped as Jayanti and the Bhairava as Kamadishwarone of the ancient 51 Shakti Peethas. Nartiang is also called a garden of Monoliths as you can find stone pillars scattered. Once this was the summer capital of king Jaintia and under his regime (16th century) this temple was built.

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.According to the mythology Daksha yagna and Sati self-immolation, it is the holy place where Sati Devi’s “Chin” left thigh. Here the goddess is also worshipped with the name Jainteshwari with her consort Lord Shiva as Kramadishwar.

Special Features

• One can find ancient guns used by kings. • Sill 19th-century human sacrifice was more prevalent. According to texts, a human head was beheaded and rolled into the river through the tunnel. (Now sacrifices are done by wearing a human mask to goats). • The priesthood is passed over generations from a single family. • During the festival of Durga, the entire temple is decorated with marigold flowers and deity is presented with new clothes. • Taking forward Khasi tradition, Utsav Murthy is made with banana trunk and worshiped, then immersed (Visarjan) in Myundi river