Shakumbhari Devi is a Hindu goddess.
One of the nine Shiwalik goddesses and the presiding deity
of the Shakumbhari Devi temple in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur district.
This is one of the Shakti Pithas, a network of
Goddess-sanctuary places that stretches throughout the Indian subcontinent.
Each Shakti Pitha commemorates the location where a piece of
the goddess Sati's severed corpse fell to earth and took on the shape of a
different goddess; in the case of Shakum bhari Devi, the body part is claimed
to have been Sati's head.
The temple is located in a sparsely populated area, and
pilgrims go there mostly during the Navaratri festivities.
Although Shakumbhari Devi is considered a version of Durga
in Hindi literature, the site's founding narrative depicts the Goddess's
nurturing abilities as well as the martial component more often associated with
Durga.
According to legend, a demon called Durgam is granted the
blessing of being unconquerable by any of the gods.
Durgam, after subduing all of the gods, forbids the
storm-god Indra from raining on the earth for a hundred years.
The gods approach the Goddess, pleading for her to aid them
with the earth's problems.
The Goddess, moved by compassion, adopts the shape of a
woman with one hundred eyes, earning her the appellation Shatakshi
("hundred eyes").
Tears flow from each eye, and as they fall to the ground,
plants begin to grow anew.
Furthermore, when her tears do not reach some areas, she
produces vegetables (Shak) from her own flesh to feed the earth's animals.
Her ultimate deed is to destroy the demon Durgam,
reinforcing the Goddess's position as a powerful and protecting deity.
Although there is scant material about Shakumbhari Devi in
English, David R. Kinsley's Hindu Goddesses, 1986, has more references to her.
