01Badi and Chhoti
Dongargarh means the fort of the hills, and the town’s tradition remembers it as Kamakhya-nagari, capital of a king Virsen whose line set up the Devi on the summit. The Devi is held to be Bagalamukhi, Bamleshwari in the local tongue. A long flight of steps leads to Badi Bamleshwari; for those who cannot climb there is a ropeway, the only passenger one in the state. Half a kilometre away on level ground is Chhoti Bamleshwari, and pilgrims take darshan of both.
02Navratri on the hill
In Chaitra and Kunwar (Ashwin) Navratri lakhs come, many walking from Raipur and Durg along the highway, and the hill is lit by thousands of jyoti kalash lamps burning for nine days. Special trains stop at Dongargarh, which lies on the Howrah–Mumbai main line. The town is also a place of Jain and Buddhist pilgrimage, with the Chandragiri Jain temple on another hill and a large Buddhist community.
The life of this place
- 2016The ropeway fails and several people are killed; it is later rebuilt.
Dongargarh station is on the Howrah–Mumbai line, about 100 km west of Raipur; the climb takes about 45 minutes.
