In the holy city of Kurukshetra (Thanesar) in Haryana — the ancient Sthaneshwar, on the very field of the Mahabharata — is revered a Shakti Peetha where, in the tradition of the Peethas, the ankle bone of Sati fell. The Goddess is worshipped in the form of Bhadrakali and honoured in this tradition as Savitri, with Sthanu (Shiva) as her Bhairava — the name from which Sthaneshwar itself derives.
Tradition holds that Sri Krishna and Balarama underwent their childhood tonsure ceremony here, and that the Pandavas worshipped the Goddess before the great war. A seat of both Shakti and deep Mahabharata memory, this shrine draws pilgrims to the sacred land of Kurukshetra.
