Karmandir करमंदिरहिंदीGet the app

Viraja Shakti Peeth (Utkal)

Jajpur, Jajpur district, Odisha

ShareTelegramXFacebook
Viraja Shakti Peeth (Utkal)
Photo: Odisha1, CC BY-SA 3.0

Traditions differ: Many lists place this peeth at the Vimala temple inside the Jagannath temple complex at Puri, because the text names the Devi Vimala and the Bhairav Jagannath. Bharatkosh names both Puri and Jajpur.

About

Maa Biraja's temple at Jajpur, on the Baitarani river in Odisha, is one of the oldest Devi shrines of eastern India; the whole town is called Biraja Kshetra. The Devi is a rare two-armed Durga: with one hand she spears Mahishasur, shown as a buffalo, and with the other she pulls his tail; one foot rests on a lion and the other on the demon. Her crown carries Ganesh ji, a crescent moon and a Shivling. In the Shakti Peeth lists this is the Utkal peeth, where the navel of Devi Sati fell, so it is also called the Nabhi peeth. The hymn of eighteen Shakti Peeths credited to Adi Shankaracharya praises her as Girija of Odyana.

The story

The Shakti Peeth story tells that after the sorrowful events at King Daksha's yagya, Shiv ji carried Devi Sati's body in grief until Vishnu ji's Sudarshan chakra divided it; the navel fell in Utkal, in this Viraja kshetra. The Tantra Chudamani names the Devi here Vimala and the Bhairav Jagannath.

Temple tradition says the Devi first appeared from a yagya that Brahma ji performed in this forest. Jajpur is also called Nabhi Gaya: a well in the temple compound is believed to mark the navel of Gayasur, whose head is placed at Gaya in Bihar and whose feet at Pithapuram in Andhra Pradesh. So families perform pind daan and tarpan for their ancestors here, which is rare at a Shakti Peeth. The Skanda Purana praises this kshetra as purifying for pilgrims, and devotees believe Jajpur holds a crore Shivlings. Beside the main Devi stands a separate shrine of Maa Baglamukhi, one of the ten Mahavidyas.

Visiting

October to February is the best season; Durga Puja draws big crowds. Jajpur is about 125 km north of Bhubaneswar; Jajpur Keonjhar Road is the nearest railway station, and buses run from Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. Nearby are the Varaha temple across the Baitarani and the Saptamatrika shrine on the riverbank.

Festivals

  • Sharadiya Durga Puja, a sixteen-day puja (Shodasha Dinatmika) from the Krishna Ashtami before Mahalaya to Ashwin Shukla Navami
  • Simhadhwaja rath yatra of the Devi during Durga Puja
  • Pana Sankranti (Maha Vishuva Sankranti) and Raja Parba

51 Shakti Peeths

Sources