Annapurna Devi Mandir

Sthala katha — the traditional account

What follows is the temple’s own traditional account, transmitted through liturgy and local memory. It is recorded here as tradition, not as attested history.

It is told that when Shiva called all the world including food mere illusion, Parvati made food vanish until he conceded its necessity, whereupon she took the form of Annapurna and set up a kitchen in Varanasi to feed her devotees.