Badi Patan Devi Temple Patan Devi Temple also called Maa Patneshwari, is the oldest and one of the most sacred temples of Patna. Maa Patneshwari temple is regarded as one of the 51 Siddha Shakti Pithas or Shaktipeeth in India. According to Puranic legends, the 'right thigh' of the corpse of Sati had fallen here when it was chopped off by Lord Vishnu with his 'Sudarshan Chakra'.

The ancient temple, originally called Maa Sarvanand Kari Patneshwari, is believed to be the abode of the goddess Durga. The name of the city Patna is widely believed to have been derived from the name of the Bari Patan Devi Temple. Some however doubt whether the name of Patna is derived from this temple .

Legend Of Badi Patan Devi Temple : Once Prajapati Daksha celebrated Brihaspati Yajna and had invited every god to his Yajna but left out Shiva, his own son-in-law. Sati, the wife of Lord Shiva, on learning that her husband had not been invited to her fathers Yajna, went to her fathers home. When Sati found no seat allotted to her husband there, she felt mortified and put an end to her life.

Lord Shiva at once came to know of this and in his great anger and sorrow took her dead body on his shoulder and began to perform tandava dance round the Triloka (three worlds). The Gods were horror-struck and requested Lord Vishnu to intervene. Vishnu cleverly followed the dancing Shiva and started cutting the dead body of Sati to pieces with his Chakra. Wherever the major limbs of the body of Sati fell the places became Mahapithas.

The places where the minor limbs fell came to be known as Upapithas. There is a tradition fondly believed that some portion of the right thigh of Sati and the pat (cloth) fell near Maharajganj and Chowk, from which Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Maha Saraswati came into existence.

It is also believed that the names of the goddesses Bari Patan Devi and Choti Patan Devi are derived from the pat which fell at Maharajganj and Chowk. It has been mentioned in Tantra Churamani that the right thigh of Sati fell in Magadha and it is supposed that the places where it fell are Maharajganj and Chowk where we now have the temples of Bari Patan Devi and Choti Paatan Devi. But many do not treat Patna as a Mahapithasthan and say that only a portion of Sati's cloth (pat) had fallen at two places in Patna. Some, however, doubt whether the name Patna has been derived from the temples. According to them the name is derived from patan which means a town and Patna was a big place of export and import.