The Wandering of Grief
After Sati's death at Daksha's sacrifice, Shiva carried her body. He walked through the cosmos in grief too great to be measured, the body of his wife in his arms.
Vishnu, watching in compassion, sent his Sudarshana Chakra — not to harm Shiva but to gently dismember Sati's body, so that piece by piece the Lord would have nothing left to carry, and his grief would have no object to cling to.
As Shiva walked, pieces of Sati's body fell to the earth.
The Fifty-One Sacred Places
Wherever a part of Sati's body touched the ground, that place became sacred — a Shakti Pitha, a seat of the goddess. The goddess remains present there, the place holding the memory of that touch.
The major Shakti Pithas include:
Kamakhya in Assam — where Sati's womb fell — the most powerful of all Shakti Pithas, centre of Tantric practice.
Kalighat in Kolkata — where her right toe fell — now within the city of Kolkata.
Vindhyavasini at Vindhyachal — where her arm fell — patroness of the Vindhya region.
Jwalamukhi in Himachal Pradesh — where her tongue fell — the flame goddess of the mountains.
There are 51 principal Shakti Pithas spread across the entire Indian subcontinent — from Kamakhya in Assam to Hinglaj in Balochistan, from Jwalamukhi in Himachal to Kanyakumari at India's southern tip.
The Meaning
The distribution of Sati's body across the landscape sanctifies the entire land. The body of the goddess *is* the land — the mountains, rivers, forests, and cities of India are the body of Shakti. To walk across India is to walk across the body of the goddess.