Mata Mansa Devi is a Hindu temple dedicated to goddess Mansa Devi, a form of Shakti. It is one of the prominent Shakti temples.
Dedicated to the Goddess Durga, the Sheetla Devi Temple is located in Una district of Himachal Pradesh. It is placed nearby Chintpurni Devi Temple in Bharwain. A good number of devotees throng this holy place to take the blessings of Goddess Sheetla Devi and pray for their prosperity and success in life. Perched on the top of the hill, this temple is considered as one of the ninth Devi temples.
Chintpurni is a major pilgrimage Centre and one of the Shakti Peethas in India. The Chintpurni shakti peeth (CHHINNAMASTIKA SHAKTI PEETH) is located in Una district Himachal Pradesh state, surrounded by the western Himalaya in the north and east in the smaller Shivalik. When Lord Vishnu severed the burning body of Maa Sati into 51 pieces so that Lord Shiva would calm down and stop his Tandava, the pieces were scattered over various places in the Indian subcontinent. It is believed that Sati's head fell at this place and is thus considered one of the most important of the 51 Shakti Peethas.
According to Hindu religion, in the Treta Yuga, when the earth was overburdened by the wicked and tyrannical rule of the demons, the Goddess Vaishnavi was created when Uma (Mahakali), Rema (MahaLakshmi), and Vaani (MahaSaraswati) decided to combine their energies to rid the earth of impending doom. After destroying the demons that were burdening Mother Earth, Goddess Vaishnavi was requested to reside on Earth, so that she may forever keep all evil at bay. She chose to incarnate as a human, named Vaishnavi. Vaishnavi continued to spend years in meditation, moving from place to place, solving the troubles of all who asked, with her Siddhis. This threatened the popularity of a local Tantrik who sent his disciple Bhairon Nath to find out more about her. But Bhairon Nath was stupefied by her beauty and lustfully stalked her wherever she went. In order to escape his unwanted attention, Vaishnavi entered a cave and continued her meditation there, for nine months, as a child rests in its mother's womb. When Bhairon Nath discovered her hiding spot and attempted to hunt her down again, with an intention of forcing himself upon her, Vaishnavi assumed the form of the Goddess Kali and severed his head. Bhairon Nath realized his mistake and begged her for forgiveness. His head had fallen far from his body, but the merciful Mother Kali promised him that he would forever be enshrined there and that he would be her guardian form then on. Kali abandoned her rage and returned to the form of Vaishnavi, and reentered her cave, where she assumed the form of three rocks and resides there to date. Each rock is representative of MahaSaraswati, MahaLakshmi and Mahakali. This shrine is lovingly called 'Vaishno Devi', where lakhs of devotees throng every year.
Shri Naina Devi Temple is also known as Mahishapeeth because of defeat of demon Mahishasur by the Goddess. According to the legends, Mahishasur was a powerful demon who was blessed by the boon of immortality by Lord Brahma, but the condition was that he could be defeated only by an unmarried woman. Due to this boon, Mahishasur started spreading terror on Earth and Gods. To cope with the demon, all Gods combined their powers and created a Devi to defeat him. The Devi was gifted different types of weapons by all Gods. When Mahishasur got mesmerized by the immense beauty of Devi and proposed her to marry him. Devi told him that she will marry him if he would overpower her. During the battle, Devi defeated the demon and took out both his eyes. This urged Gods to happily applaud "Jai Naina" and hence the name.
