Nalhati Temple (Kalika / Jugaadya), Nalhati

Nalhati is one of the 51 Shakti Peethas, located in Nalhati town, northern Birbhum district. Sati's windpipe or gullet (nala/kantha) is believed to have fallen here — the organ of voice, breath, and the passage of sacred sound (sound/nada being central to Hindu cosmology as the primordial vibration of the universe). The goddess is called Kalika (or Jugaadya — the primordial age, the goddess who predates time) and the Bhairava is Yogesh (Lord of Yoga / the Yoga-master Shiva). The temple name "Nalhati" derives from "nala" (pipe/gullet) and "hati" (fallen/descending) — literally, "the place where the pipe fell."