01Puruhutika
Puruhuta is a name of Indra, and the tradition here says Indra worshipped the Devi at this place, so she is called Puruhutika. In the katha of Sati’s body divided by the Sudarshana Chakra, the texts name different parts for Pithapuram: the temple tradition and many devotional lists say the seat, the hips, which gave the town its name; others say the left hand. The Devi holds a seed-pot, an axe, a lotus and a cup of honey. The town’s name itself, Pithika, is the word the Ashtadasha stotra uses.
02Pada Gaya
The Gaya Mahatmya tells of Gayasura, whose body was so pure that all who saw him reached heaven. The devas asked to perform a yajna on his body, and Bhagwan Vishnu held him still with his foot. Three places keep his body: Shiro Gaya at Gaya in Bihar, Nabhi Gaya at Jajpur in Odisha, and Pada Gaya here at Pithapuram. Pilgrims bathe in the Pada Gaya tank and offer pinda to their ancestors on its steps, as they would at Gaya.
03Sripada Srivallabha
The Gurucharitra, the Marathi scripture of the Datta sampradaya, tells that Sripada Srivallabha, the first avatara of Dattatreya in Kali Yuga by its reckoning, was born at Pithapuram to Apalaraja and Sumati, and later lived and left his body at Kuruvapur on the Krishna. The Datta temple at his birthplace in the town draws pilgrims from Maharashtra and Karnataka alongside those who come for the Devi.
Pithapuram is about 20 km from Kakinada and Samalkot on the Howrah–Chennai line. Bathe in Pada Gaya, take darshan of Kukkuteswara, then Puruhutika in the same complex.
