Chandika Sthan
Encyclopedia
Chandika Sthan is a Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

 temple situated in Munger
Munger
Munger town is the headquarters of Munger district, in the Indian state of Bihar. Historically, Munger is known for its manufacturing of iron articles such as firearms and swords. One of the major institutions in Munger is Bihar School of Yoga. It is one of the foremost learning center in the...

, in the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n state
States and territories of India
India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...

 of Bihar
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....

. It is one of the sixty-four Shakti Peethas
Shakti Peethas
The Shakti Pithas are places of worship consecrated to the goddess Shakti or Parvati or Sati or Durga, the female principal of Hinduism and the main deity of the Shakta sect...

, places of worship consecrated to the goddess Shakti
Shakti
Shakti from Sanskrit shak - "to be able," meaning sacred force or empowerment, is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that are thought to move through the entire universe in Hinduism. Shakti is the concept, or personification, of divine feminine creative power, sometimes...

. On the Northeast corner of Munger, Chandika Sthan is just two kilometers away from the Munger town. Being a Siddhi-Peetha, Chandika Sthan is considered to be one of the most sacred and sanctified temples, as important as the Kamakshya temple near Guwahati
Guwahati
Guwahati, Pragjyotishpura in ancient Assam formerly known as Gauhati is a metropolis,the largest city of Assam in India and ancient urban area in North East India, with a population of 963,429. It is also the largest metropolitan area in north-eastern India...

.

Legend

Legendary tales and the Hindu folklore says that it was to save the world from the anger of Lord Shiva, as he took the corpse of Sati
Sati
Sati may refer to:*An alternative name for Hindu goddess Dakshayani, Shiva's first wife*Sati , an ancient Indian tradition of the immolation of a widow on her husband's funeral pyre, now illegal*Mindfulness...

 and began dancing in the Tandav Mudra, as a result of which the earth began to shake and the whole creation was about to destroy, Lord Vishnu managed to cut Sati’s corpse in 64 pieces by his Sudarshan Chakra. The same legend says that the left eye of the Sati fell at Munger, which subsequently developed in to a place of worship of the Divine Mother Chandi
Chandi
Chandi or Chandika is the supreme Goddess of Devi Mahatmya also known as Chandi or Durga Sapthashati. Chandi is described as the Supreme reality who is a combination of Mahakali, Maha Lakshmi and Maha Saraswati...

. Among the different Shakti peethas Chandika Sthan is famous for the cure of eye troubles,as per the traditional belief of the local folklore.

King Karna

Another legend connected with Chandika Sthan is regarding King Karna of the ancient Indian kingdom of Anga
Anga
Anga was a kingdom that flourished on the eastern Indian subcontinent in the 6th century BCE until taken over by Magadha in the same century. Counted among the "sixteen great nations" in Buddhist texts like the Anguttara Nikaya, Anga also finds mention in the Jain Vyakhyaprajnapti’s list of...

, who used to worship Chandi Mata every day and in turn the Goddess gave him 11/4 pounds (equivalent to 50 kilograms) of gold for distribution among the needy and downtrodden at Karanchaura,now a local name for the vicinity.

Location

Chandika Sthan is approximately a 1 km distance from ITC Ltd, Basudevpur, Munger. The nearest railway station is Jamalpur Junction
Jamalpur Junction
Jamalpur Junction Railway Station is under the administration of the Eastern Railways. It is on the Gaya-Sahibganj rail route. The station is located about 6 km from Ganga Darshan campus, which encompasses Bihar Yoga Bharati University...

, and the nearest airport is Patna
Patna
Paṭnā , is the capital of the Indian state of Bihar and the second largest city in Eastern India . Patna is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world...

Airport.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK