Shri Danteshwari Devi

Danteshwari Temple is the temple dedicated to Goddess Danteshwari and is one of the 18 Maha Shakti Peethas, shrines of Shakti, the divine feminine, spread across India. The temple built in 14th century by the Chalukyas of the South is situated in Dantewada, a town situated 80 km from Jagdalpur Tehsil, Chattisgarh. Dantewada is named after the Goddess Danteshwari, the presiding deity of the earlier Kakatiya rulers. Traditionally she is the Kuldevi (family goddess) of Bastar state, The temple is as according legends, the spot where the Daanth or Tooth of Sati fell, during the episode when all the Shakti shrines were created in the Satya Yuga. Every year during Dusshera thousands of tribals from surrounding villages and jungles gather here to pay homage to the goddess, when her idol was taken out of that ancient Danteshwari temple and then taken around the city in an elaborate procession, now a popular tourist attraction part of the ‘Bastar Dussehra’ festival.