Mata Chintpurni (Chhinnamastika) Temple

01Mai Das and the pindi

Pandit Mai Das, a devotee of Durga, was walking to his in-laws’ village when he sat to rest under a banyan tree on this ridge and fell asleep. The Devi came to him as a girl and told him to stay and serve her; when he woke and prayed, she told him he would find her pindi beneath the tree. He found it, built a hut, and spent his life in her seva. The village was called Chhaproh then; it took the Devi’s name, Chintpurni, the one who completes and removes all chinta. The priests of the temple today are Mai Das’s descendants, and the family counts its own generations back to him.

02Chhinnamastika and the four Mahadevs

The temple’s own account of the name: the Devi once cut off her own head so that her two companions, Jaya and Vijaya, could drink and be satisfied. That is Chhinnamasta, one of the ten Mahavidyas. The Shastra the temple cites says a Chhinnamastika seat must be guarded by Rudra on all four sides, and here it is: Kaleshwar Mahadev to the east, Narahana Mahadev to the west, Muchkund Mahadev to the north and Shiv Bari to the south. The Himachal tradition counts Chintpurni among the 51 Shakti Peethas, some saying Sati’s feet fell here and some her forehead. The Peetha Nirnaya Tantra’s list does not name it, so traditions differ.