Ambaji Temple is key shrine of goddess, worshiped from pre Vedic period. As per the Markandeya Puran, Sati, daughter of King Daksh Prajapati, was great devotee of Lord Shiva and did intense penance to please Lord Shiva. Finally Lord Shiva had accepted her hand for marriage. But King Daksha was not happy with this marriage
To insult Lord Shiva, Daksha held Yagya and invited all God and reputed persons except the Sati and Lord Shiva. Sati had decided to confront her father at Yagya. Lord Shiva tried to stop her by doing this but Sati went to Yagya.King Daksh did not welcomed her and use this occasion to insult her and Lord Shiva in front of all God and reputed individuals. Sati could not bear this humiliation and jumped into holy pyre of the Yagya.
Once Lord Shiva got this information; he was deeply pain and anger on Daksh. Lord Shiva had created Virbhadra and Bhadrakali with extra ordinary super power and order to kill Daksh and his army. Then Lord Shiva picked up Sati with burning body and unleashed his fury in form of legendary Tandava, dance of destruction. The other God and people started worried about safety of whole universe and requested Lord Vishnu the supreme Lord, to help out in this situation.
Lord Vishnu used the Sudarashan Chakra and cut the body of Ma Devi Sati in pieces. As per the legends, Sati’s heart fell over spot marked by Ambaji Temple. Thus this temple is one of the main Shaki Peeth and Siddh Peeth across 51 Shakti Peeth.
Worship of Vishwa Yantra at Amabji Temple
Another important note of this temple is, there is no idol or photo of Ma Devi Ambe but it has Yantra. There is a Gokh -cave in the wall on which gold plated marble inscription of a triangle Vishwa Yantra is fixed. It is copper plate with Vedic text on sacred geometry inscribed on with figures and Shree is written in the center. This Vishwa Yantra represents the deity in temple. This Vishwa Yantra is decked up with ornaments and special attire in a way that the ensemble resembles Goddess Ma Ambe.