The first heritage walks under the aegis of Jagatsinghpur Heritage Walks (JHW) was successfully held on the auspicious Saraswati Puja day from the premise of Maa Sarala Temple with the participation of more than 35 heritage enthusiasts from across the state.
Srikanta Singh, the convenor of JHW welcomed all the participants and explained the mission and vision behind JHW.
Jagatsinghpur has a history of its own dating back to the 6th Century AD, having contemporaneity with Prachi Valley Civilization. Its archaeological remains, navigation network, inland and overseas trade, fabric manufacturing & designing, religious tolerance and epoch-making glorious role in the freedom struggle; have a savour of distinctiveness. The group was addressed by Pandit Ranjan Panda the Chief Priest of the temple and author of the book “Shri Chandi Sarala Madala” and Dr. Ajay Kumar Mishra, eminent researcher and author of the book “Chitramaheswari”.
According to Sarala Das’s authored Mahabharata, during the 15th Century, near the river of Prachi and Chandrabhaga in the village Sarola, Maa Sarola Chandi temple, as well as Sarala Das’ house, was there.
Maa Sarala was initially worshipped near Landa Deula Temple, where now only Lord Shree Ganesh is worshipped. The “Bali Ratha” was completely stopped from the year 1946. Both the speakers also spoke about Sarala Bila, Charakhai Padia how the temple peak was broken by Kalapahada and the second attack on the temple during Aurngazeb’s regime. The current temple was probably built in two phases, the main temple was constructed around 1890/95 and Parshwadevatas were put in the year 1914.
Both the speakers took the visitors through the epic Mahabharata written by Sarala Das, which is also translated into Bengali and Telugu. They also enlighten the walkers about the confusion on the names of Sarala Das as well regarding Mahabharata.
The Chief Priest also took the visitors through that daily rituals carried out in temple and how amalgamation of Buddhism, Tantrism, Saivisim and Vaishnavite philosophies happened in this place.
Prominent participants in the first JHW included Cuttack Heritage Walks (CHW) convenor Dipak Samantrai, Puri Heritage Walks (PHW) convenor Sanjay Baral, Founding member of Dhenkanal Heritage Walks Biswa Ranjan Dehury and Publisher of Divya Duta Publication Prabhanshu Santarai along with local college going students.
