Badi Patan Devi Temple, Patna (Magadh Shakti Peetha)

01Three Devis on one throne

In the sanctum at Badi Patan Devi, black stone murtis of three Devis stand on a single throne: Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati, the three forms in which the Durga Saptashati praises the one Mother. Beside them is Vyomkesh Bhairava, the Shiva who guards the peetha. Patna’s belief is that when the right thigh of Sati fell in Magadha the three Devis appeared together. Bihar tradition also says the cloth, the pat, of Sati fell here, and so the Devi is Patan Devi and the city Patna, though not everyone accepts that the city takes its name from her. Navratri brings the old city to her door in thousands.

02Badi and Chhoti

Patna has two Patan Devi temples. Badi Patan Devi is in Maharajganj, south-east of Takht Sri Patna Sahib, and Chhoti Patan Devi, also called Sarvanandakari Patneshwari, is in the Chowk area of Patna City. Both are counted as the Magadh peetha. In the list printed with the Peetha Nirnaya, Magadh is where the right thigh fell, the Devi is Sarvanandakari and the Bhairava Vyomkesh; it is often added as the 52nd. Shakti Peetha lists differ, and Magadh is left out of some. Some writers trace a temple on the Chhoti Patan Devi site to the early medieval period and the present building to the age of Raja Man Singh, but firm records are lacking.