Shree Maa Naina Devi Temple Nainital,Uttarakhand

Naina Devi Temple, Nainital

In Nainital, Naina Devi Temple is situated on the northern bank of Naini Lake. This temple was destroyed by a landslide in 1880. Later it was rebuilt. The Shakti form of Sati is worshiped here. There are two eyes in the temple which represent Naina Devi. It is believed about Naini Lake that when Shiva was going to Mount Kailash with the dead body of Sati, Shaktipeeths were established wherever his body parts fell. The eyes of Goddess Sati had fallen at the place of Naini Lake. Inspired by this, this temple has been established.

Naina Devi

According to the legend, Sati, daughter of Daksh Prajapati, was married to Shiva. Daksh Prajapati did not like Shiva, but he could not ignore the request of the gods, so he married his daughter to Shiva even though he did not want to. Once Daksh Prajapati invited all the gods to a yagya at his place, but did not even invite his son-in-law Shiva and daughter Uma. Uma stubbornly reached this yagya. When she saw all the gods being respected and her husband and herself being disrespected in her father’s Yagya at Kankhal in Haridwar, she became extremely sad. She jumped into the sacrificial fire of the Yagya saying, ‘I will make Shiva my husband in the next life also. As a result of the disrespect you have shown me and my husband, I fail your yagya by burning myself in the sacrificial fire of the yagya.’ When Shiva came to know that Uma had become Sati, his anger knew no bounds. He destroyed and corrupted the yagya of Daksh Prajapati through his followers. Seeing this fierce form of Shiva, all the gods and goddesses were worried that Shiva might cause destruction. Therefore the gods and goddesses prayed to Mahadev Shiva and calmed his anger. Daksh Prajapati also apologized. Shiva blessed him also. But after seeing the burnt body of Sati, his dispassion surged. He placed Sati’s burnt body on his shoulders and started traveling in the sky. In such a situation, wherever the body parts are, there are Shakti Peethas. Where Sati’s eyes had fallen; There, Uma i.e. Nanda Devi got a grand place in the form of Naina Devi. Today’s Nainital is the same place where the eyes of that goddess had fallen. The tears in the eyes took the form of a rhythm here. Since then, Shiva’s wife Nanda (Parvati) is continuously worshiped here in the form of Naina Devi.