On the Mangalagauri hill in the holy city of Gaya, Bihar, the Goddess Mangala Gauri is worshipped as one of the eighteen Maha Shakti Peethas — "Gaya Mangalya gourika" in Adi Shankaracharya's stotram. In the tradition of the Peethas, the breast of Sati fell here, and so the Mother is revered as the nourisher, the giver of sustenance and auspiciousness (mangala), worshipped in the form of a rounded stone honouring this.
Gaya holds a singular place in the sacred trio of Shakti Peethas — Kamakhya for creation, Ujjain for annihilation, and Gaya for nourishment. The city is famed across India as the foremost place for shraddha and pinda-daan, the rites for departed ancestors performed at the nearby Vishnupad, so that a visit unites devotion to the Mother with duty to one's forebears.
Mangala Gauri is invoked especially for the wellbeing of family, for marriage, and for children.
