The Vishalakshi Temple of Divine Mother Sati, wife of Lord Shiva

Shiva

Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...

 stands at Meer Ghat

Ghat

Ghat is the capital of the Ghat District in the Fezzan region of southwestern Libya.-History:In historical times, Ghat was a major terminal point on the Trans-Saharan trade route and a major administrative center in the Fezzan...

 just behind Vishwanath Temple

Vishwanath Temple

Kashi Vishwanath Temple is one of the most famous Hindu temples dedicated to Lord Shiva and is located in Benaras, the Holiest existing Place of Hindus, where at least once in life a Hindu is expected to do pilgrimage, and if possible, also pour the remains of cremated ancestors here on the River...

 in Varanasi

Varanasi

-Etymology:The name Varanasi has its origin possibly from the names of the two rivers Varuna and Assi, for the old city lies in the north shores of the Ganga bounded by its two tributaries, the Varuna and the Asi, with the Ganges being to its south...

, 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...

. Devout Hindus consider this as one of the 51 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...

 mentioned in the Puranas

Puranas

The Puranas are a genre of important Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religious texts, notably consisting of narratives of the history of the universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of kings, heroes, sages, and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography.Puranas...

.

Manikarni

When Sati's body was cut to pieces by the sudarshana chakra

Chakra

Chakra is a concept originating in Hindu texts, featured in tantric and yogic traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism. Its name derives from the Sanskrit word for "wheel" or "turning" .Chakra is a concept referring to wheel-like vortices...

 of Lord Vishnu

Vishnu

Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....

, it is said that karna

Karna

Karna or Radheya is one of the central characters in the epic Mahābhārata, from ancient India. He was the King of Anga...

 kundala (earring) of Sati fell here. Hence Devi

Devi

Devī is the Sanskrit word for Goddess, used mostly in Hinduism, its related masculine term is deva. Devi is synonymous with Shakti, the female aspect of the divine, as conceptualized by the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. She is the female counterpart without whom the male aspect, which represents...

 here is also known as Manikarni. Some pundits feel that karna kundala is merely an ornament

Fashion

Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...

and not part of the body. Therefore this place can at best be considered as a upapeetha, a minor or sub-centre. Another version says that this is a shakti peetha only because one of the three eyes akshi fell here. However it is amongst the 18 undisputed shakti peeths. As the divine eye can perceive the entire universe, Mother here is called Vishalakshi, the vast-eyed.

Lord Shiva is known as Kalabhairavar.