Tara Tarini Temple | 16 Mar 2020
Why in News
The annual Chaitra Jatra festival scheduled to be held on 17th March, 2020 at Odisha’s Tara Tarini hill shrine has been cancelled 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 centre of Shakti worship in Odisha.
- The twin goddesses Tara and Tarini represent one Shakti and are the main deity of Ganjam district (Odisha).
- Tara is an important deity of Mahayana Buddhist Sect.
- This temple had been built as per 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 Tara Tarini hill shrine.The first Indian all-woman crew had circumnavigated the globe in INSV Tarini.