Place · Shiva hill temple · Bangladesh
Sītākunda Chandranāth
The hilltop Chandranath Shiva shrine with the Chandi Shakti Pitha at its foot and hot springs at the lower terrace, in Chittagong district, Bangladesh — the largest Hindu pilgrimage in the country, drawing about half a million pilgrims to the Shivaratri mela each February. The hill is one of the fifty-one Shakta Pithas, said to hold Sati's right arm. The hot sulphur springs at the base feed a tank where pilgrims bathe before ascending. The complex has preserved its continuity through the 1947 Partition, the 1971 Liberation War, and the subsequent decades of Hindu minority emigration. The temple is one of the two most important working Hindu pilgrimages in East Bengal.
- Periods
- Classical and Puranic Age, Republic and Living Practice
- Function
- Sacred site & pilgrimage
- Tradition
- Shakta and Shaiva traditions
- Confidence
- Mixed / layered — The place is documented; its associated historical or cultural record and its named tradition are distinct layers.
- Location
- 22.620, 91.660
Worth knowing
Chandranath Hill rises dramatically above the coastal plains of southeastern Bangladesh. The site is interesting because it combines hill pilgrimage, Shiva worship and Shakti traditions in a region better known today for its Muslim cultural landscape. The nearby Sitakunda area also contains numerous ancient Hindu pilgrimage sites.
Connections (1)
- Pitha network withKāmākhyā
Sitakunda Chandranath in Chittagong, a hilltop shrine with hot springs at its foot, is the largest Hindu pilgrimage in Bangladesh, and one of seven pithas now on the far side of that border from Kamakhya. Pilgrims from the Indian northeast reach it rarely and with difficulty, though the two shrines are closer to each other than either is to Delhi.
On these journeys
Sources
Chandranath Temple, Sitakunda
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