This site is counted in the lists below by some sources and not others. We list the claim and the disagreement rather than silently picking a side.
Shakti Peetha — The Devi Kanya Kumari article calls the shrine one of the 52 Shakta pithas where the back or spine of Sati fell and in the same article calls Kanyakumari and nearby Suchindram 'two Shakta pithas out of the 51', so the enumeration it cites is internally inconsistent (as of 2026).source
Maha Shakti Peetha — Kanyakumari is not among the eighteen shrines of the Ashtadasha Shakta Pitha Stotram as Wikipedia lists them, though the Devi Kanya Kumari article calls the shrine a Shakta pitha under both the 51 and 52 enumerations in the same text (as of 2026).source
Sacred since
500 BCE
Mentioned in Sangam-era and Greco-Roman sources
Standing structure
ancient; structure renewed over centuries
Pandya
History & significance
At the meeting of three seas on the subcontinent's southern tip stands the shrine of the virgin goddess, counted among the Shakti Peethas and mentioned by ancient Greek and Sangam sources. Her diamond nose-ring is famed to have gleamed so brightly that ships mistook it for a lighthouse and wrecked — the east door stays mostly closed.
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.
Kanya Devi did penance to wed Shiva; the wedding was set for a midnight muhurta, but Narada — knowing only a virgin could slay the demon Banasura — took a rooster's form and crowed falsely at midnight. The groom's party turned back; the uncooked wedding rice became the coloured sands of the shore, and the eternally waiting goddess slew the demon.