Surkanda Devi

India / Uttaranchal / Tehri /
Surkanda Devi is a Durga (Goddess of Power) temple. situated at an altitude of about 3000 mtrs, enroute Chamba - Mussoorie road.An ascending Trek of 2.5 km starts from Kaddukhal a small market located on the road.It is surrounded by dense oak and rhododendron forests and affords a panoramic view of the greater Himalayas east to west.
According to the legend, Sati, the wife of Lord Shiva, gave up her life in the argument with her father Daksha Prajapati, who was not ready to accept Shiva as his daughter's husband. Once he organised a yagnya and invited to all the Gods and kings but intentionaly not to lord Shiva. So Sati felt insulted and went to the ygnya place and jumped in the fire and leave her body. When Shiva known this he became angry and cutted the head of King Daksha. Then Shiva departed to the Himalayas with dead body of Sati. then by the request of all gods Lord Vishnu separated the body part by part with Sudarshan Chakra . Shiva passed through this place on his way back to the Himalayas with the dead body of Sati whose separated head (Sir-Khandit...Sir-khand...sir-khanda...sur-khanda...SURKANDA) fell at the spot where the modern temple of Surkanda Devi stands and became a SHAKTIPEETH..
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surkanda_Devi
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Coordinates:   30°24'40"N   78°17'18"E

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This article was last modified 12 years ago