Place · Shakti Peetha temple · India
Chintpurni Devi, Una
Also known as Chintpurni, Chintpurni Devi, Una
The Chintpurni Devi temple at Chintpurni in Una district, Himachal Pradesh, 60 kilometres from Dharamshala — one of the five Shakti Peethas of the Punjab-Himachal pilgrimage circuit (with Jwala Ji, Naina Devi, Mansa Devi and Vaishno Devi). The deity Chintpurni is worshipped as a form of Chhinnamastaka (headless) goddess, with the sanctum containing a pindi (natural rock formation) rather than an idol. The temple sits under a sacred Pipal tree whose shade gives the shrine its distinctive character. The temple's foundation is traditional 10-century; the current structure is 16-century. The annual Shravan Ashtami (August) festival each year draws over 500,000 pilgrims from across Punjab, Haryana and Himachal — the Punjab-Himachal pilgrimage circuit's second-largest festival after Jwala Ji. The 2004 ropeway from the base to the summit serves elderly pilgrims.
- Function
- Sacred site & pilgrimage
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 31.781, 76.126
Connections (3)
- PilgrimageNaina Devi, Bilaspur
Chintpurni and Naina Devī are the Una and Bilaspur halts, the circuit's turn from the Beas country toward the Sutlej. Both are hilltop shrines above reservoirs made in the twentieth century, so the views the pilgrims describe are younger than the temples by nine hundred years. Both are also on the Nau Devi bus circuit's fixed overnight halts, so the pilgrimage's modern shape is set by where a coach can park rather than by the older foot roads.
- PilgrimageVaishno Devī
Vaiṣṇo Devī in Jammu and Chintpurni in Una are the first two halts of the circuit as it is usually run from the Punjab, about a hundred and eighty kilometres apart. Neither has a figural image: one is three rock pindīs in a cave, the other a pindī under a pipal hung with the threads of granted wishes.
- PilgrimageJvālāmukhī, Kangra
Chintpurni and Jvālāmukhī are an hour apart across the Una–Kangra border and are always done together. Between them they hold the circuit's two most unusual objects of worship — a stone under a tree and a row of natural gas flames — and neither has ever had an image installed in the sanctum.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Chintpurni”. Archaeological Survey of India and State Archaeology monument records, and the standard regional literature.
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