Ganjam: Though Jhadeswar Temple, located at Borigaon under Humma panchyat of this district, is one of the prominent Shaiva seats of southern Odisha, the shrine has been lying in utter neglect for the past several years.
The site, believed to be built by a king of the Ganga dynasty during the 14th Century and situated atop Ranibar hill, receives a significant footfall across the year due to the presence of dense casuarinas and waterfall around it. Besides, the existence of a perennial river and presence of a large number of peacocks at the foothills add to the site’s magnificence.
However, the devotees coming from far flung regions often face trouble as there is no rest house and toilets near the shrine. The temple is managed by the village committees of eight nearby hamlets – Borigaon, Lunghuri, Kathagada, Chaitanyapur, Panibandh, Kushapali, Nua Kushapali and Baladiadhia.
Legend has it that the fall and peaceful ambience attracted Lord Ram while he was frantically searching for his wife Sita and he had a stopover here. Being a devotee of Lord Shiva, Ram consecrated a Shiva Linga here and worshipped it. Ram also spent the night and satiated his hunger with the tasty fruits of the forest. But in due course, the Linga got covered with growth of trees around it and eventually buried.
After centuries, a milkman had gone to the top of the hill to graze cattle. One day, he noticed that one of the cows spent some extra time near a bush. The next day, he followed the cow and spotted that milk was automatically draining from the cow’s udder at the root of a fruit tree. The milkman also observed a ‘divine ray’ near the tree.
Astounded by the development, he immediately returned to village and told the villagers about his experience. Soon, they excavated the place and spotted a large Shiva Linga which was later named as Jhadeswara Mahadev.
About 25 years back, during the tenure of late Chief Minister Biju Patnaik, the rural development department had laid a road connecting Borigaon and the temple. However, the road is in a bad shape at present.
Local MLA Priyanshu Pradhan, realising the problems of the temple, has sanctioned Rs 3 lakh from his MLALAD funds this year.
As the temple is said to be more than 600 years old, locals sought tourist destination tag for the shrine.
PNN