Kanyakā Parameshwari

Kanyakā Parameshwari was the historical daughter of Kusuma Śreṣṭhi, a Komati (Vaiśya trading caste) patriarch at Penugonda. When the local Visnu-varddhana king Viṣṇu-Vardhana-III demanded her hand, her father and community elders opted to burn themselves in a sacrificial pyre rather than yield. The event (ca. 1023 CE) consolidated the Arya Vaiśya community's identity. Kanyakā is venerated as the prototype of chastity-plus-resistance-to-coercion. Her temple at Penugonda is the primary shrine;