01The cheek and the nose-ring
The people of Chandrapur say that when Sati’s body was divided, her left cheek fell on this hill by the Mahanadi and her nose-ring, the nath, fell on the island in the river. So the Devi on the hill is Chandrahasini, she whose smile is like the moon, and the Devi on the island is Nathaldai, her younger sister. The island shrine is believed never to have gone under, however high the Mahanadi rose in flood. Chhattisgarh counts Chandrahasini among the Shakti Peethas; the Peetha Nirnaya Tantra does not name it, so traditions differ.
02Raja Chandrahas’s hunt
Another katha of the place gives the founding. Raja Chandrahas of Sambalpur was hunting in these hills when the animal he chased turned into a Devi before his eyes and vanished. That night she came to him in a dream and asked for a temple. He built her shrine on the hill and a second one for Nathaldai on the island. The temple has grown into a large complex with a tall murti of Mahadev and Parvati and courts full of painted kathas. In both Navratris pilgrims come from across Chhattisgarh and western Odisha, and many press a coin to the wall behind the temple: if it sticks, the wish will be granted.
Chandrapur is about 30 km from Raigarh, on the Mahanadi near the Odisha border; Raigarh is the nearest large railhead. Cross to Nathaldai when the river is low.
