JOY ROY CHOUDHURY – Kolkata
Devotees of Goddess Amba (Shakti) will now be able to undertake the entire pilgrimage of ’51 Shaktipeeths’ (temples), that are located in the Indian subcontinent comprising of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Mansarovar in Tibet, in Gujarat itself. This unique project, with replicas of 51 Shaktipeeths will be commissioned shortly at Mount Gabbar in Ambaji.
Speaking to Express TravelWorld, Vipul Mittra, principal secretary, department of tourism and civil aviation, Government of Gujarat said, “The exact replicas of the 51 Shaktipeeths are being set up on a 3-km stretch at Mount Gabbar in Ambaji at a cost of INR 50 crore and will be commissioned in September this year. As the Shaktipeeths have been exactly replicated, they will have either idol of the goddess or Yantra as the original ones.”
The replicas include all the Shaktipeeths in India besides Hingula in Pakistan, Chattal, Kartopatat and Sugandha in Bangladesh, Indrakshi in Sri Lanka, Gandaki and Guhyashwori Peeth in Nepal and Mansarovar in Tibet. Priests from respective Shaktipeeths will be stationed here to perform the daily Vedic rituals and devotees will be able to offer pujas and offerings in the respective vernacular languages. The priests are currently undergoing the training sessions.
Ambaji temple, which receives around 90 lakh devotees every year, will witness a phenomenal rise in the number of visitors after the commissioning of the Shaktipeeths. “We are expecting to get 24 lakh more tourists to visit the Shaktipeeths annually once it is commissioned,” he said.
