Jayanti Shakti Peetha, Nartiang Durga Temple

01Two claims to one seat

Jayanti was the old Jaintia kingdom, which ran from the hills of Meghalaya down to the plains of Sylhet. Its kings kept a winter capital at Jaintiapur in the plain and a summer capital at Nartiang in the hills. So when the Tantra says the left thigh fell at Jayanti, with the Devi as Jayanti and the Bhairava as Kramadishwar, both halves of the old kingdom claim the seat. In Meghalaya it is the Durga temple at Nartiang. In Sylhet it is a shrine at Bamojonga near Kanaighat, whose name means the left thigh; it was kept by the Jaintia royal family as temple land. Shakti Peetha lists differ, and devotees honour both.

02Durga of the Jaintia hills

The Nartiang temple stands on a low hill that was once fortified, close to the royal house of the Jaintia kings. The temple’s account says the Devi appeared in a dream to King Jaso Manik, who took up her worship. Its priests, the Deshmukh family, came from the plains at the kings’ invitation and still serve here. At Durga Puja a banana plant is dressed as the Devi and worshipped for four days, then taken down to the Myntdu river; a gun salute is fired and goats are offered. Old Jaintia cannons lie in the Shiva temple close by. Below the hill is the field of tall monoliths for which Nartiang is also known.

The life of this place