Maa Varahi Panchasagar Shakti Peeth

Panchasagar is the famous Shakti Peetha near Varanasi,Uttar Pradesh where it is said that the Lower Teeth of Maa Sati fell and the idols are Devi Maa as Varahi and Lord Shiva as Maharudra (The angry one). Varahi Maa is one of the Matrikas, a group of seven or eight mother goddesses in the Hindu religion. With the head of a sow, Varahi is the Shakti (feminine energy, or sometimes, consort) of Varaha, the boar Avatar of the Lord Vishnu. In Nepal, she is called Barahi. Maa Varahi is worshiped by all the three major schools of Hinduism: Shaktism (Goddess worship), Shaivism (followers of God Shiva), and Vaishnavism (Devotion to Lord Vishnu). She is usually worshiped at night, and according to secretive Vamamarga Tantric practices. The Buddhist goddesses Vajravarahi and Marichi are believed to have their origins in the Hindu goddess Varahi. It well described in Devi Mahatmya in context of the Shumbha-Nishumbha Vadh from the Markandeya Purana religious texts, the Matrikas Goddesses appear as shaktis from the bodies of the Gods. The scriptures say that Varahi was created from Varaha. She has a boar form, wields a chakra (discus), and fights with a sword. After the battle described in the Purana, the Matrikas danced & drunk on their victim’s blood. According to a latter episode of the Devi Mahatmya that deals with the killing of the demon Raktabija, the Mother Goddess Durga creates the Matrikas from herself and with their help slaughters the demon army. When the demon Shumbha challenges Durga to single combat, she absorbs the Matrikas into herself. In the Vamana Purana, the Matrikas arise from different parts of the Divine Mother Chandika, Varahi arises from Chandika’s back.