Legend has it that King Dhanya Manikya, who ruled over Tripura in the closing years of the 15th century, had a revelation one night in a dream in which Goddess Tripura Sundari instructed him to initiate her worship on the hilltop near the town of Udaipur, the contemporary capital of the kingdom. The king found out that a temple on the hillock was already dedicated to Lord Vishnu.
He was in a dilemma, unable to decide how a temple dedicated to Vishnu could have an idol of Shakti. The following night, the divine vision was repeated. The king understood that Vishnu and Shakti were different forms of the same Supreme Deity (Brahman). Thus, the temple of Tripura Sundari came into being around the year 1501 AD. In the dawn of this century, the temple has crossed 500 years. This legend is recounted as an example of solidarity between two sub-groups of Hinduism: the Vaishnava and the Shakta sects.
In Udaipur, the Goddess is worshipped as Tripura Sundari. Local variants of the name of the goddess are Tripureśwarī or Ṣoḍaśī. The temple is a small cubical edifice, measuring 24 square feet at the base with a height of 75 feet. The shrine is situated on a small hillock which resembles in shape the hump of a tortoise, which gives it the name of Kurma Pīṭha.
As in other typical Hindu temples, stalls along the road to the temple sell flowers and baskets of offerings that visitors can buy and offer to the goddess as Prasādam. The common Prasādam offered here is the Peda. The red hibiscus flower (রক্তজবা) is also prized as an offering to the goddess.