Tara Tarini Temple

 Tara Tarini Temple

The annual Chaitra Jatra festival scheduled to be held on 17th March 2020 at Odisha’s Tara Tarini hill shrine has been canceled as a precautionary measure against COVID-19 infection.

The festival is held on each Tuesday in the month of Chaitra, which falls in March-April as per the English calendar.

Key Points

• Tara Tarini hill shrine, located at a hilltop on banks of the Rushikulya river, is a major center of Shakti worship in Odisha.
• The twin goddesses Tara and Tarini represent one Shakti and are the main deity of the Ganjam district (Odisha).
• Tara is an important deity of Mahayana Buddhist Sect.
• This temple had been built as per the traditional Rekha style of Odia temple architecture, as per which famous Jagannath temple of Puri and Lingaraj Temple of Bhubaneswar have been built.
• Unlike other temples, it wasn’t built under the patronage of a King or a Noble, the temple was set up by a Brahmin named Basu Praharaj as per popular legend.
• Since its inception, it has been an established seat of Tantrism.
• Indian Navy’s sailboat INSV Tarini was named after the Tara Tarini hill shrine. The first Indian all-woman crew had circumnavigated the globe in INSV Tarini.

Source: The Hindu