Chintpurni Shakti Peetha Temple

The goddess is called Chinnamastika or Chinnamasta. Literally, it can mean the severed-headed one or the foreheaded one. According to the Markandeya Purana, at a time when the earth was plagued by demons, Ma Chandi defeated them in a fierce battle that raged for days. Ma Chandi was satisfied but her two yogini emanations Jaya and Vijaya were still thirsty for blood. To quench their thirst, Ma Chandi cut off her own head and they drank her blood. Ma Chandi or Chhinamastika is depicted as holding her own severed head in her hands, drinking the blood spurting from the neck and her two naked yoginis drinking from another stream of blood from a different artery of the head. Ma Chandi symbolises the separation of the mind from the body and submission of spiritual consciousness into the larger divine consciousness. She is called the Headless Goddess who sacrificed herself for her beloved yoginis and entered the spiritual domain through meditation of the mind.

According to Puranic traditions, Ma Chinnamastika will be protected by Rudra Mahadev – a manifestation of Shiva- in all four directions. Rudra Mahadev is the Bhairav accompanying Ma Shakti.