From the ancient times the deity who has been variously worshipped as Jagatjanani, Adishakti, Mahakali, Mahalaxmi and Mahasaraswati resides in a sublime nook in Nayagarh district. Thousands of devotees who pay obeisance at Her shrine every day believe the Divine Mother fulfills even the smallest wish of worshippers
Pragati Prava
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Known as the abode of Mahakali, Narayani Temple is located at the magnificent Pathara Kachada village in Bhapur block of Nayagarh district. Kantilo, a sleepy town famous for the Nilamadhaba shrine, is just 2 km from the temple and 100 km from the state capital. The nearest railway station is Khurda Road Junction and regular bus services are available to the temple. Devotees can have ‘darshan’ of the deity after taking a left turn at Pathara Kachada village on the way to Kantilo. The Devi is believed to answer the sincere prayers of devotees. Be it sultry summer or bone-chilling winter, a trip to the site is always enjoyable. The dense forest cover, meandering Mahanadi and cloudy horizon are sure to fill you with joy.
The Devi’s divine height is exhibited in tempestuous actions. Narayani – believed to be the manifestation of Mahakali, the supreme goddess – is worshipped as the deity who listens to all the sincere prayers of devotees.
Mahakali’s spirit is described as tameless; Her visions are high while Narayani is extremely graceful and not beyond the reach of Her followers. Her hands are outstretched to give succor to the needy.
According to Durgaprasad Dikshit, a senior priest at the shrine, “Goddess Mahakali has descended from Her heavenly grandeur in a form that makes Her accessible to mortals. She listens to the prayers of all devotees. The deity is devoutly worshipped by childless couples.”
When Swatika Parija from Balasore came to the shrine for the first time in 2014 she was childless after 10 years of marriage. She had visited at least 10 gynaecologists and infertility experts and had undergone all sorts of clinical tests to diagnose her problem. Based on the diagnostic reports, she didn’t leave anything to chance to become a mother, but failed. She had almost buried her hopes. However, miracles do happen as Parija, a zoology postgraduate discovered after visiting the temple.
“One fine morning, I met an old woman from a neighbouring village who asked me to visit the shrine at least once and express my desire before the deity. As a student of science, I turned down what I thought was a weird proposal. But the old woman insisted till I consented to visiting the shrine during Magha Purnima – one full moon day during the months of January and February – that year.
“I was filled with a sense of joy the moment I set feet on the temple. My indomitable desire to become a mother sprang from the bottom of my heart at the sight of the deity. I performed all the rituals sincerely as directed by the priest. Three months later, medical tests revealed that I had not one but two foetuses. All logic seemed to have failed,” said Swatika.
“I visited the shrine with my twins on their first birthday to pay obeisance to the deity. Since then I have been visiting the temple often,” she added. Dikshit said: “Women aspiring for a child observe a fast and as per the ‘hukum’ (divine ordination) of the goddess, they take a dip in the pond outside the temple known as Marichi Kunda.
They have to take out a small pebble from the pond. The pebble is kept on the temple premises. After the woman conceives, she puts the pebble back into the pond.”
Not only does the deity bless the childless with children, She takes care to fulfill even the very small needs of devotees. As per belief, a devotee has to pluck flowers and offer them to the goddess with prayers. If the Devi is pleased with his prayer, a flower drops from Her crown indicating that the prayer would be answered, added Dikshit.
Gobardhana Padhi, the senior most priest of the temple, said one can find some strange and mysterious elements involving the water of Marichi Kunda. Cattle never touch the water of the pond, no matter how thirsty they are. They graze near the pond but never put their pouts into the water. Instead, they quench their thirst by drinking water from a pond that is at a distance from the temple.
Padhi narrated an anecdote to explain why cattle are averse to touching the water. “Gosingha Daitya (a demon with horns like that of cattle) was an ardent devotee of Goddess Narayani. The demon, in the Dwapara age, had left no stone unturned to appease the Goddess to get her blessings to be the most powerful conqueror on earth. In order to get the blessings of the Goddess, he set up his yajna altar in front of the idol of Goddess Narayani to perform Gomedha Yajna (sacrifice of cattle). He had sacrificed thousands of cattle at the yajna altar and was believed to please the deity with the blood of the cattle. With the passage of time, the place where the altar was set up turned into a pond. As the place was smeared with the blood of their own species, the cattle are averse to touch the water of the pond.”
The name ‘Gosingha Daitya’ was mentioned in the first part of the Madhya Parba of Oriya Mahabharata written by Sarala Das. He was the son of Braja Singha, the demon king of Koilabati Patna. He was residing on the hills north of the Narayani shrine. The hills later came to be known Gosingha Pahada.
However, science is yet to justify the reason behind this behaviour of cattle. The mystery related to Marichi Kunda appealed to the then block development officer of Bhapur Banshidhar Behera who took the initiative to unravel the riddle. With the help of villagers, the block authorities pumped out the water from the pond and cleared the sludge deposited on its bed. They found an altar of 15 ft depth and 12 ft broad, which ascertained the existence of a yajna altar at the site.
The serene shrine is dedicated to both Shiva and Shakti. Goddess Kali facing northwards and Lord Shiva facing westwards comprises the Shiva temple adjacent to the Devi shrine. The shrine is known as Swapneswar Deva temple, one of the rarest of shrines in the country. Lizards of a rare species can be spotted inside the Shiva temple which adds to the peculiarity of the place. Sukesh Mallick, an ardent devotee of the deity, said: “The Devi has descended from heavenly heights to make Herself accessible to human beings. It is Her humility to remain within the reach of devotees.”
The Goddess is regarded as Pratyaksha Devi (responsive deity). She listens to all the prayers of Her devotees. She is the presiding deity of the area and revered by locals as a strong spiritual force. She has been worshipped from ancient times as Jagatjanani, Adishakti, Mahakali, Mahalaxmi and Mahasaraswati. The residents here share a very intimate bonding with the Divine Mother. In this relationship, the worshipper becomes a child and the Goddess assumes the form of an ever-caring mother, he added.
Dikshit further said that while Kali is the fearful and ferocious form of the Mother Goddess, Devi Narayani represents the softer personification of the Goddess. She has eight arms (ashabhuja) with a shankha (conch), chakra (wheel), gada (mace), padma (lotus), phasa (rope), ankusha (hook), abhaya (fearlessness) and bara (blessings) as her ayudha (weapons). The two hands armed with abhaya and bara are in a position of showering blessings on worshippers.
“Her dark complexion symbolises all-embracing and transcendental nature – just as all colours disappear in black so all names and forms disappear in Her. The Devi, who is free from illusory covering, is beyond all maya (illusion). Red and black saris are Her attires; She wears yellow and white on Tuesdays and Thursdays respectively,” Diksit pointed out.
The sweet dish, Khiri, is offered to the deity. It is prepared by the milk offered by villagers. All households offer milk for the deity before they use it for themselves. The peculiarity of the dish is that water is not added to it and it is prepared only by milk offered to
the deity.
The region where the shrine is situated is rich in cultural heritage. The nearby adobe of Nilamadhaba is a famous Vishnu temple adjacent to the Mahanadi river bank in Kantilo. Nilamadhaba is an incarnation of Lord Jagannath who is worshipped as Parsva Devata (side deity) in the shrine. Lord Siddheswar is also present on the temple premises. The lingam of Siddheswar changes direction according to the movement of the sun and this miracle is yet to be unravelled.
Lord Nilamadhaba, who occupies a central position in Jagannath culture, is known as the deity of Shabaras, a tribal community. It is believed that Biswabasu, the king of the Shabaras, worshipped the God in a small cave in the Brahmadri hills situated on the banks of the Mahanadi.
The deity was originally worshipped in the form of a blue sapphire (Indranila) and was thus known as Nilamadhaba, according to mythology. Later, it was worshipped as a wooden idol (daru murty) and a temple was built at the place near the confluence of three rivers – the Mahanadi, Kuanria and Kusumi. The temple’s structure bears similarity with the Jagannath Temple in Puri.
