Set in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, Shakumbhari Devi Temple is dedicated to Shakumbhari Devi (Shatakshi), a form of Adi Shakti or Chandika associated with nourishing the world with fruit and vegetation. It is also known as Siddhpeeth Shri Shakumbhari Devi, Shakumbhari Mata Mandir, Shatakshi Devi.
Widely revered in North India as a Shakti Peetha and Siddha Peeth of the Goddess. Devotional and tourism sources commonly describe it as one of the 51 Shakti Peethas, though it is not consistently included in every classical enumeration of the 51, so this status should be understood as a strong regional and devotional tradition rather than a uniformly documented classical listing. Sources do not agree on which part of Sati's body is said to have fallen here, so that detail is left unspecified. The current temple was built by Pundir Rajput rulers, including Rana Bahadur Singh Pundir, on the site of a much older, undocumented shrine in the Shivalik hills near Jasmour village, Behat tehsil.
Uttar Pradesh carries a distinct temple identity of its own: The spiritual heartland of India, home to Kashi, the birthplaces of Rama and Krishna, and revered Shakti and Vaishnava shrines along the Ganga and Yamuna.
Darshan hours and daily worship
| Session | Timing (as published) |
|---|---|
| Morning | 5:00 AM |
| Evening | 9:30 PM |
Hours reported by a single tourism source; subject to change on festival days. Confirm locally before visiting.
Festivals and special-day timings
Regular darshan hours are usually extended, or set aside entirely, on these dates.
| Festival | Period | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Shakambhari Purnima | Paush month (December or January, per Hindu lunar calendar) | Principal festival of the temple, marking the goddess's manifestation |
| Navratri | Chaitra (March or April) and Ashwin (September or October) | Major biannual Navratri observances with heavy pilgrim footfall |
| Diwali | October or November (per Hindu lunar calendar) | Observed as one of the temple's principal festivals |
History and architecture
Architecture
Hill shrine complex in the Shivalik range; the main sanctum enshrines Shakumbhari Devi flanked by images of Bhima Devi and Bhramari Devi on one side and Shatakshi Devi on the other, alongside Bala Ganesha. A separate Bhura Dev temple dedicated to Bhairava, the goddess's guardian, stands about 1 km to the east and is traditionally visited first.
History
The current temple was built by Pundir Rajput rulers, including Rana Bahadur Singh Pundir, on the site of a much older, undocumented shrine in the Shivalik hills near Jasmour village, Behat tehsil. The site is traditionally revered as a Siddha Peeth of the Goddess, associated with Shakumbhari's role in nourishing the world with fruit and vegetation during a great famine.
Planning your visit
How to reach
About 40 to 45 km from Saharanpur Junction railway station, reachable by road via Behat and Chhutmalpur; Saharanpur Junction connects to Delhi, Lucknow, Dehradun, Haridwar, Chandigarh and Jammu. Nearest airports are Dehradun (about 80 to 90 km) and Delhi IGI (about 200 km).
Where this information comes from
Confidence: Medium. Shakumbhari Devi is a very well documented and ancient temple, but its status as one of the classical 51 Shakti Peethas is inconsistently corroborated (it is omitted from at least one standard 51-peetha list checked), and no source reliably confirms which part of Sati's body is traditionally said to have fallen here, so that detail was left unspecified rather than guessed.