Devi or the Goddess worship is an inherent part of Hinduism. While worshiping a God invariably his consort Goddess is also worshiped.
Devi Lalita Tripura Sundari is the primordial divine force of the universe. It is said that in the beginning God, who was one, wanted to become many and enjoy himself. As the first step to creation he created Devi – the total cosmic Female force. For the male part, out of his left he created Shiva, out of his middle he created Brahma and out of his right he created Vishnu. She is more powerful than the Trinities and hence She is called Parashakti or Paradevi – Para meaning beyond. She is the Divine Mother of the universe. When the demon Banasura became all powerful, Vishnu worshiped HER and SHE appeared in the form of Durga. During the battle with Banasura Durga created Kali Chandi and Chamundi. Every form Devi has Lord Shiva as HER consort – Like various Rudras, Bhairavas etc. Every other form of female godesses like Lakshmi, Saraswati etc. are also manifestation of Devi Lalita Tripura Sundari and they have Vishnu, Brahma etc as their consorts.
There are thousands of various types of Devi temples all over India. In Andhra Pradesh for example every village has an “Ammavari Gudi” meaning “Mother’s temple”. There are many types of Holy Mothers and temples dedicated to them.
The Devi temples can be broadly classified in to four categories as follows.
Click on the links bellow to know about the most famous Devi temples.
51 Shakti Peetha temples: Sati was the first wife of Lord Shiva. She was the daughter of King Daksha. Once Daksha was performing a great Yagya but did not invite Lord Shiva as he had a low opinion of HIM because Shiva used to wear just a tiger skin around HIS waist, used to smear ashes on his body and used to wear only Rudrakshas and had no material wealth as the great trinity was beyond all these things. Though uninvited, Sati still went to attend her father’s yagya. There King Daksha insulted her by ridiculing Lord Shiva. Unable to bear the insults Sati immolated herself by jumping in to the fire pit of the Yagya. When Lord Shiva came to know about this HE was furious and destroyed the Daksha yagya. Dancing in fury he saw the burnt body of Sati and unable to control HIS anger picked it up and whirled it around and threw it up. Various parts of her burnt body fell in 51 places and these places are the 51 powerful Shakti Peethas. According to another version given in the Puranas As Shiva threw the body up, Vishnu, fearing that if the entire body fell in one place it will cause tremendous concentration of Shakit’s power in one place, cut it up in to pieces with HIS Sudarshana Chakra.. Many great Rishis worshiped in these great places and Devi temples were built.
Other Devi temples: Apart from the 51 Shakti Peethas there are many other places where Devi Shakti has manifested in many forms and these are also powerful and very auspicious places.
Lakshmi temples: Her manifestation in the form of eight kinds of wealth is Goddess Lakshmi with Lord Vishnu as HER consort.
Saraswati temples: Her manifestation in the form of all kinds of knowledge is Goddess Saraswati with Lord Brahma as HER consort.