KIRITESWARI TEMPLE, WEST BENGAL

Kiriteswari Temple is the oldest, holiest, and a famous religious place of Murshidabad district and is also known by the name Mukuteshwari temple. It is located in Kiritkona village, near Lalbagh court road, in Murshidabad district, West Bengal. It is one of the 52 Shakti Peetha.

Kiriteswari Temple is the oldest, holiest, and a famous religious place of Murshidabad district and is also known by the name Mukuteshwari temple. It is located in Kiritkona village, near Lalbagh court road, in Murshidabad district, West Bengal.

This is one of the major Shakti peethas among the 52.  According to belief, the “crown” or the kirit of Sati Devi had fallen here. Here Devi is worshipped as Vimala or pure and Shiva as Sangbart or Sambarta. The Shakti Peet at Maa Kiriteswari temple is considered as an Upapeeta, as no limb or part of the body fell here, but only a portion of her ornament fell here. It is one among the handful of temples in Bengal where no deities but an auspicious black stone is worshipped.

History and Significance

In order to make people of the Earth remember about the incident for life time, Vishnu severed the body of Sati into several pieces with sudarshan chakra. The body parts of sati which have fallen down in different parts of the earth have formed Shakti peethas. Sati had blessed by placing her crown at Kirit Shakti peeth.

The previous name of Kiriteswari was Kireetkana. Kireet means the crown. Kireetkana or Kiriteswari is mentioned in the Vabisyapuran, a literature written in the medieval period. And it is also heard that in the time of Shankaracharya and the Gupta age the Kiriteswari had the existence.