Katyayani Devi Shaktipeeth, Vrindavan: An Abode of Divine Grace

For every pilgrim, the temple town of Vrindavan is suffused with the devotional energy of Radha and Krishna. People come here to be swept away by this great spirit of love and feel a part of the divine play that this land has represented for thousands of years. However, not many people know that the place where Radha and Krishna’s divine play takes place is also an important abode of Shakti – one of the 51 important Shaktipeeths is located among the many bylanes of Vrindavan, attracting seekers from across the country.

Katyayani Devi Shaktipeeth, also known as Uma Devi Shaktipeeth, is the location where the hair of Goddess Sati is said to have fallen. The goddess here is specially worshipped by young girls who pray to her to bless them with a good groom. It is believed that the maidens of Braj who wanted Krishna as their husband sought the blessings of Katyayani Devi. The tradition of worship continues.

The temple here was built more than a century ago by Kesavanand Maharaj, an ardent devotee of the goddess, who was instructed by her in a dream to construct a temple in Vrindavan, at the site where her hair had fallen.

After a precarious auto ride through the bylanes of Vrindavan, we were dropped off at the entrance to the temple. Why precarious? We were warned by our guide that the many monkeys that abound in this temple town have a penchant for snatching spectacles, mobiles, and bags. So everywhere we had to keep the specs and mobile inside the purse and sling it across so that it could not be snatched easily. There were so many monkeys outside the temple that the auto driver kept guard, so that our footwear was not taken away.

On reaching here, I found that the Shaktipeeth was much less crowded than many other temples in Vrindavan that draw huge crowds every day. It was evening time and we had to wait a while for the main entrance to open. The timings are 7 am to 11 am (morning) and 5.30 pm to 8 pm (evening).

As soon as the big entrance door opened, we walked into the inner courtyard that opened to the beautiful marble temple of Katyayani Devi, and the Shiva temple. The serene environment filled me with peace. When I stepped inside the temple to have darshan of the goddess, I was stunned by the resplendent beauty of her form. I could feel that great beauty reflecting in my heart as my head bowed down in reverence.

After doing parikrama of Maa Katyayani’s idol, I went to the Bhairav temple, and though it was closed, I could have darshan of the Shivlinga from outside. Bhuteshwar Mahadev is the Bhairav of Katyayani Devi, and is known to protect the city from negative entities.

Outside, we found that our auto driver had successfully managed to protect our slippers from the band of monkeys. This was followed by another cautious auto ride, clutching our possessions, as we headed to the next temple.

(Sudipta is an energy healer and mystical storyteller. Her collection of short stories ‘Invoking Our Inner Goddess’,’ Mystical Tales Of Sacred Earth’, ‘The Blue God’s Love’ and ‘Enchanted Waters: The Magical Flow Of Life’ are available worldwide on Amazon Kindle.)