Kankalitala

Kankalitala in the Birbhum district of West Bengal is identified in tradition as the peeth where the pelvis, called kankal, of Sati fell. The goddess is Devgarbha and the Bhairava is Ruru. The word kankal means skeleton or bony frame, and tradition connects the name of the place with the same idea, so the shrine and its body part are bound closely together in local memory.

A feature that devotees often mention is the sacred pond near the shrine, described in tradition as the place where the pelvis came to rest, with the water being treated as especially sacred. The shrine is part of the cluster of Birbhum peeths along with Tarapith, Bakreshwar, Nandipur and Attahas, which together make the district one of the most densely sacred landscapes of the Shakta world. The surrounding region has red laterite soil and village temple culture, with Baul singing and fairs.

Because the Pithanirnaya, the Tantra Chudamani and later regional works do not give the same list, several Birbhum names appear in some versions and not in others, and body parts such as the bones or pelvis may be attached to different places. Kankalitala is widely accepted in Bengal as a peeth, with a form of the goddess whose name Devgarbha is read as one who holds the divine within. The Daksha yajna story gives the frame, as with every Shakti Peeth.