Kalyani Devi Shaktipeeth Mandir — Attraction in Uttar Pradesh

Beautiful place 😊. What better way to kick start a new year than a visit to Lord Sri Venkateshwara, especially given one stays in Tirupati, the city at the foothills of the temple.

New year's vacation period during a closing pandemic was alluring beyond ordinary. This led me to take up the Tirumala trip by foot, for the first time. I had booked a 10AM slot on 9th Jan for darshan through the offical website ( you have to be quick, else the slots get filled quite fast); shoutout to local Instagram pages for giving the heads up.

You can find the route length, facilities along the way and related info in the other posts for this topic. I thought I'll mention a few lesser know facts and preperation required.

Skipping to the flag off day:

I started early at the Alipiri steps ( there are two routes, the other being Sri vari metalu), around 6:45 am. You can drop in your luggage here and collect it near the temple, or if it's a bag pack or something similar, can carry it like I did, without much difficulty. Wear comfortable clothes for the ascent, as you have to change to traditional attire ( dhoti or kurts for men and sari or chudidar for women) only before entering the temple premises. I suggest you go barefoot; and please note, it is not mandatory to do so,but this after all is a holy climb. Moreover you'll find pilgrims placing kunkum and Khalid on every step, a few even lighting camphor, so it is indeed inappropriate to have footwear in the vicinity. The steps are regularly swept and floor is quite easy on the naked foot. Dont be worried about water, food, snacks or toilets on the way. There are many options sensibly spaced.

To give a brief idea about the route, first about 2000 steps are only steps, reasonably steep. Later on its lavishly spanned with long stretches of flat walls, surrounded by splendid greens. Then about 2800 steps later, you reach Sri Laksmi Narasimha Swami temple, from where you merge with the road used by vehicles on the way down. And the journey culminates with some steps named "Mokalu mettalu" ( Knee steps, as few devotees climb them on...

Mata Kalyani Devi temple situated in Kalyani Devi locality in Prayagraj is one among the prominent Shaktipeeths here. It's believed as per scriptures attributed to glory of Goddess Durga that three fingers of Sati had fallen here. Besides this one, Mata Lalita Devi Temple in Meerapur and Mata Alopishankari in Daraganj are the other two Shaktipeeths. Goddess Kalyani Devi is here represented as Raj Rajeshwari Devi which is one of the forms of Goddess Shri Tripura Sundari.

Rishi Yajnavalkya had performed Tapa here in Tretayuga. The statue of Goddess here is built of ashtadhatu whiich is more than 1500 years old. This temple has also Manokamna Kund, which never fails to fulfill wishes of devotees. The temple premises also have statues of other forms of Ishvara such as Shri Radha Krishna and Shri Hanuman ji.

Baba Batuknath is also here as custodian of this temple in Bhav Bhairavnath temple situated one kilometre away from Kalyani Devi temple. It's believed that devotees should not miss darshana of Bhairav Baba after having darshana of Goddess.

Jai Mata Kalyani. Jai Mata Raj Rajeshwari. Jai Mata Tripura Sundari.

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( Reviewer is also International Blogger besides being Advocate, Allahabad...

Kalyani Devi Temple

Goddess Kalyani Devi Temple is one of the Hindu Temple in Allahabad. It is believed that Shakti's fingers were believed to have fallen here. It is also believed that the idol housed within this temple is over thousand years old. The sacred idol of goddess Kalyani Durga is established in this temple so it is calles as one of the important place.

According to Prayag Mahatmya, goddess Mahashakti having two different names that are the Lalita and the Kalyani  It became one of the sacred 51 Shaktipeeths because of the fingers of Shakti's left hand are believed to have fallen at Prayag.

The present temple was constructed in 1883 but the idols of the temple are very old. The idol of the Goddess Lalita is appearing with the four hands on a lion with the symbolic glow behind the forehead. Goddess Bhagwati Chhinna Masta lies on the left side of the central statue.

In the south of the temple, the idol of the Devadhidev Mahadev.In lords appears with the goddess Parvathi on his lap, Vighna Vinashak Ganesh on his right, Rudravataar Pavansut Hanuman on the top left. There is also idol of the  Ram Lakshman Sita and...