Bimala

Bimala, also written Vimala, is the Shakta goddess within the Jagannath temple complex at Puri, regarded as the guardian goddess of the Shrikshetra and as one of the Shakti Peethas, where Sati's feet are said to have fallen. She is seated in her own shrine in the temple compound. Tradition holds that the food cooked for Lord Jagannath is first offered to Bimala, after which it is called Mahaprasad. During the Durga Puja of Ashwina she is honoured with the sixteen-part Sodasha Puja.

In the Shakta tradition, the Shakti Peethas are the places where parts of the body of Sati fell when Shiva carried her after her death at the yajna of Daksha. According to the sources, Puranic texts such as the Shiva Purana and the Devi Bhagavata Purana name Purushottama Kshetra as the place where...