Kankalitala Temple

This is one of the Shakti Peethas where the waist (or kankal in Bengali) of Parvati fell which is at present the Kankalitala town. Goddess Parvati is the residing deity of the Kankalitala Temple.
Sati’s waist landed at Kankalitala. It created a depression in the earth which later filled up with water and formed the sacred kund. It is repeatedly told that the actual body part now lies underneath this water.

Here there is no deity statue made of stone, clay, or metal. At Kankalitala, the image that is attended to by the purohits (Hindu temple priests) is a framed painting depicting the goddess Kali standing on top of her husband Lord Shiva. There appears to be some conflation with Kali and the goddess worshiped here who is referred to as Kankali.

The garbhagriha (literally meaning “womb chamber” in Sanskrit) at Kankalitala’s main temple consists of a small room that is capped by a curved pyramidal roof, ornamented with a metal spire. Connected to this is a rectangular raised platform referred to as the natmandir. This natmandir is roofed and serves as an area where devotees can have a direct view of the temple’s main devotional image as well as respite from the sun’s oppressive rays.
Even though the centrally-placed icon of Kali located within the mandir appears to be the focus of Kankalitala, the most sacred object present at this shakti pith is without doubt the kund (Sanskrit for “sacred tank/pond”) located next to the temple. This kund is a small shallow pond that is surrounded by a protective concrete wall topped with red fencing. Next to the temple, this barrier is open and steps lead down to the kund’s sacred water. The kund is in fact the original form of the goddess at Kankalitala: a pond which has been worshiped since ancient times. It is here that Ma Sati’s waist (in Bengali, kankal) is said to have fallen countless aeons ago when her dead body was skillfully dismembered by Lord Vishnu using his discus weapon–the Sudarshana Chakra.