Maa Bhattarika Devi Temple
Maa
Bhattarika Devi Temple is located at Sasanga Village in Baramba tehsil in
Cuttack district of Odisha State. It is situated on the banks of the river
Mahanadiv.
Goddess
Bhattarika is an incarnation of Goddess Shakti.
Devi Bhattarika seated in
Lalitasana holding a lotus in one hand and the other hand in
Varadamudra,Another image close to her is in Lalitasana with four hands Pasha,
Ankusha, Bow and Arrow which is called Para Bhattarika.
The temple of Bhattaarika is
located in the foot of the Ratnagiri hill. Temple has a Pidha vimana,
Jagamohana and a Muktimandapa. Stone is used for the construction of the temple
and the entire surface is plastered and white washed. The worshippers of
the goddess Bhattarika are non-Brahmin, this brings about a folk character of
the deity. In the daily ritual of the deity the cooked fish is offered. Devi
Bhattarika is considered as the deity of navigation and the Fisherman community.
According to a popular legend
this pitha is established by Parsuram and also he carved the image of the
goddess in the tip of his arrow. In this pitha Parsurama penanced to gain mercy
of the deity to kill Bhattas or Kshetriyas. The Goddess became pleased with him
and offered him the desired boom. So the Pitha is associated to the epic age.
According to the Oriya Ramayan, Ram, Lakshmana and Sita on their way to
Panchvati paid prayer to the Goddess Bhattarika. The Mankadagadia hill on the
other side of Mahanadi where the foot mark of Ram, Lakshmana and Sita are
worshipped is also quite significant.
Another local legend says that
Krishna and Satyabhama visited Bhattarika and it was revealed to Arjun during
his Agyantavasa. The Demon Gosimha kidnapped Satyabhama in disguise during that
period. Arjun fought bravely and killed Gosimha demon. After that
Krishna,Satyabhama and Arjun prayed Goddess Bhattarika, the presiding deity of
the Badamba royal family.
The term Bhattarika has
different meaning. According to History and legend of Badambagada, Gajapati of
Orissa ordered Hattakishor and Mallakishor the two brothers to establish two
villages named Sankha and Mahuri. After that they became king in that place.
Tribal chief of that area opposed these two brothers when they tried to
construct Fort. A terrible battle was fought and finallytribal chief and his
wife died in the battle. Before death the wife of the tribal chief advised king
Hattakishore to worship the deity Bhattarika. Another name of the deity
Bhattarika is Bruhatamba. The king named his state Bhuhadamba bearing the name
of the Goddess. But latter it is known as Badamba.
This temple was built during 6th century.
Pana Sankranti, Akshaya Tritiya and Dasara are the
festivals celebrated here.
Timings
5.00 am to 1.00 pm
3.00 pm to 7.00 pm
How to get here
87 km from Bhubaneswar
79 km from Cuttack
37 km from Kantilo
Nearby Temples
Banki, Charchika Temple – 58 km.
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