हिंदीOn this day
Standing

Sugandha Shakti Peetha, Shikarpur

In the Peetha Nirnaya Tantra’s list, Sati’s nose fell at Sugandha, and the Devi there is Sunanda. The seat is placed at Shikarpur, a village north of Barishal town in southern Bangladesh, where she is worshipped as Ugratara.

Built: Ancient seat of the Devi; the present shrines were rebuilt after damage in the twentieth centuryWhere: Shikarpur, Barishal District, BangladeshDeity: Sunanda Devi, worshipped here as Ugratara; Bhairava Tryambak22.84° N, 90.26° E
  1. 1971
Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author · Public domain

01Where the nose fell

When Daksha insulted Mahadev at his yajna, Sati gave up her body in the sacrificial fire. Shiva wandered the worlds carrying her, and Bhagwan Vishnu’s Sudarshan chakra divided the body so that his grief might end. The Peetha Nirnaya Tantra names Sugandha as the place where her nose fell. The Devi is Sunanda, and the Bhairava who guards her is Tryambak. Bengal’s lists place Sugandha at Shikarpur in Barishal. Shakti Peetha lists differ in their count and in where they place several seats, but this one is placed at Shikarpur by most Bengali lists.

02Ugratara of Shikarpur

At Shikarpur the Devi is worshipped as Ugratara, the fierce form of Tara. Across the river stands a Bhairava shrine without any built temple, and some devotees hold that spot to be the true peetha. The old images of the place were looted in the troubled years before and during 1971, and the shrines were rebuilt afterwards; the murti worshipped today was installed after that rebuilding. Beside the main temple there are shrines of Shitala and Kali and a kitchen that feeds pilgrims. Since the Padma Bridge opened in 2022, the road from Dhaka to Barishal is much shorter, and more pilgrims come from the capital.

The life of this place

  1. 1971The shrine’s old images were lost in the disturbances of the Liberation War years, and the temple was later rebuilt.
Visiting

Shikarpur is about 20 km north of Barishal town by road. Pilgrims usually come from Dhaka over the Padma Bridge, a drive of four to five hours.

Nearby

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