Sapta Matrikas

Sapta matrikas mentioned in Puranas as Shakti manifested from Gods to assist in their war against asuras. It is noteworthy that they also assisted Skanda and Lord Shiva in their war against asuras. They find mention in Matsya, Kurma, Varaha and Shiva puranas. There is also a mention of sapta matrikas in Mahabharata. The sapta matrikas are

1. Brahmi
2. Vaishnavi
3. Maheshwari
4. Indrani
5. Kaumari
6. Varahi
7. Chamundi

In Devi Purana, they are mentioned as Ashta Matrikas and Naarasimhi is considered as eighth matrika. In Nepal, worship of Ashta Matrika is more prevalent. In Shiva Purana it is mentioned that the sapta matrikas approached Lord Shiva in Kailasa to absolve themselves for the sin of killing the asuras. He advised them to have a holy dip (bath) at Rishabh Tirtha in Mayiladuthurai and perform penance at the nearby Shiva temples. The places where the sapta matrikas performed the penance are known as sapta sthanam. Later on the temples were built where sapta matrikas performed their penance. These temples are mentioned below except one place where Maheshwari worshiped Lord Shiva. All these temples are located along the banks of river Kauveri very near to Mayiladuthurai.

Name of the temple	Location	Name of sapta matrika who worshiped	Name of the  Lord Shiva	Name of Shiva's consort	Sthala vruksha
THANTHONDRI -NATHAR	AKKUR	BRAHMI	AAIRATHIL -ORUVAR  (ONE IN  THOUSAND)	VAL-NEDUNG-AMMAL	BAHAVA, BILVA, BEATLE NUT
PASHUPATHI-ESHWAR TEMPLE	AAAVOOR	VAISHNAVI	PUNYA-NATHAR	VENUBHUJ-AMBIKA	PEEPAL TREE
KARNAPURI-SHWAR	NOT KNOWN	MAHESH-WARI	-	-	-
SRIDHARMA-PURISHWAR   TEMPLE	VALLALAR-KOVIL, KUMBHA-KONAM	INDRANI	DHARMAPURI-SHWAR	VIMAL-NAYAKI	AAVALA
AGNIPURI-SHWARAR  TEMPLE	KANJANUR	KAUMARI	AGNIPURI- SHWARAR	KARPAG-AMBAL	PEEPAL, PALASHA
VAZUVOOR SHIVA TEMPLE	VAZUVOOR	VARAHI	KRUTI-SHWARAR	BALA-KURAMBIKA	SHAMI
VADARANY-ESHWAR TEMPLE	VALLALAR  KOVIL (MAYILA-DUTHURAI)	CHAMUNDI	VADAARANY-ESHWAR	DNYAN-AMBIKA	BILVA