Keonjhar: While people in a festive mood are busy in preparations for Kali Puja and Diwali, Sunday, an 800-year-old shrine, situated on the foothills of Chulia on Siddhamatha premises in the old town of Keonjhar, is leaving no stone unturned to worship the Goddess in all austerity and proper rituals.
Maa Kali here is said to be a living Goddess who answers the prayers of her devotees. What is conspicuous is that the deity here is in chains. Local residents have been worshipping the Goddess in shackles and that has been the way of the ancient shrine for eight long decades.
People throng here round the year but Kali Puja is a special day when the temple witnesses a massive crowd of devotees. The temple is unique and distinct from all other Kali temples as the deity is worshipped here as per all kinds of tantric rites and rituals.
Siddhamatha, a sacred place situated on Chulia foothills, is an abode of nature filled with greenery. It was once a seat of tantric practice and meditation where saints used to worship the deity with tantric rituals, priest Sanjay Tripathy said. Shiva is worshipped as Mahakal or Kaleswar in the temple, he said. Shiva is said to be ‘powerless’ here while Goddess Kali is believed to be all-powerful.
The lower part of the deity’s stone idol is stated to be very long which is entrenched in the ground. The idol has been built in black granite stone and it resembles a skeleton, Tripathy said. The deity’s idol has ten hands and each can be seen carrying a weapon such as a sword, or severed heads of demons. The Goddess can be seen biting her left finger in her mouth. The deity looks so furious that people cower at the slightest utterance of her name.
Legend has it that a saint tied the deity in chains so as to prevent her from going out of the temple and unleashing her fury as well as to protect the people from her anger. During Kali Puja, ‘Yagna’ and ‘Chandi Patha’ including all traditional rituals are conducted all through the day to propitiate the Goddess, Tripathy said.
Many devotees still fear to enter the temple to offer puja and pray to the deity through a window which is on one the side of the temple and remains open all the time, Tripathy added. Similar arrangements have been made at the Dakshina Kali temple at Saras village and at Shyama Kali temple in Madhapur in Keonjhar district.
PNN
