Jalandhara-pitha

Jalandhara-pitha

जालन्धर-पीठ, jālandhara-pīṭha

Jalandhara-pitha (Jalandhar-pith) is a holy place, near Jvalamukhi-pith (Himachal-pradesh), where Jalandharnath practiced. Often these pithas are defined as one whole.

Here is the history of the Jalandhara-pitha emergence:

After Sati, in the famous legend of Daksha's yajna, threw herself into the fire and committed suicide, Shiva, being in mourning, carried her body on his shoulder, and Vishnu cut it into pieces with sudarshana chakra. After that, each part of the body fell to different places in India, where Shakti-pithas appeared, and the corresponding Yogini Goddesses. Sati's face fell in Himachal Pradesh, in the Southern part of the Kangra Valley. Flame (jvala) emanated from the face (mukha), and there appeared such an aspect of Devi as Jvalamukhi (goddess with a fiery face). In that place, fire naturally emanates from the earth. There are only nine flames, they are considered as nine aspects of Jvalamukhi. Many Hindus consider this place a great miracle.

For Nathas, this place is known, first of all, for the history associated with Gorakshanath. When he was performing parikrama, and one day he came to Jvaladevi-shakti-pith, where he received a blessing from the Goddess Jvala, she offered him non-sattvic food (however, prasad), as well as cooked on fire (many sannyasins do not accept such food either). Gorakshanath said that he would accept food in the form of jnana from Jvala, and that was enough, or only rice and did not take prasad. He went to Manpur and started collecting bhiksha, but no one donated anything to him. Then he sat down in a forest near the city and began to practice tapasya, the heat of his tapas caused a drought around. When the inhabitants realized that it was not a simple Yogi, they brought him rice (anna), and prosperity came to the village after that. The city was subsequently named after Gorakshanath (Gorakhpur).