हिंदीOn this day
Standing

Samaleswari Temple, Sambalpur

The temple of Samalei Maa on the Mahanadi, presiding Devi of western Odisha, whose name the city of Sambalpur carries. The Chauhan rajas who founded Sambalpur in the 16th century built her temple.

Built: 16th century, the Chauhan rajas of SambalpurWhere: Odisha (Sambalpur district)Deity: Maa Samaleswari (Samalei)21.47° N, 83.96° E
  1. 16th century
Photo: AmitabhPatra · CC BY 3.0

01Mother of Hirakhand

Samalei is a rough stone with a nose ring, a gold nose ornament and silver eyes, not a carved murti. She sits in a low sanctum surrounded by a pillared gallery for parikrama, the sandhara plan, with smaller shrines around the court. The Chauhan dynasty, which came to this valley from the Patna state further west, made her the guardian of the new capital, and the land around Sambalpur, the old Hirakhand of diamonds, took her as its own. In western Odisha and the neighbouring parts of Chhattisgarh she is honoured as Jagat Janani, the mother of all.

02Nuakhai

The great day is Nuakhai, the feast of new rice, on the fifth of the bright half of Bhadrapada. The first grain of the season is offered to Samalei at an hour fixed by the temple priests, and only then do families across western Odisha eat the new rice, touch the feet of elders and settle quarrels. In Navaratri and on Shital Shasthi the lanes to the temple fill with drummers playing the dhol and nishan of Sambalpur.

The life of this place

  1. 16th centuryThe Chauhan raja Balaram Dev founds Sambalpur and builds the Devi’s temple.
Visiting

On the Mahanadi bank in Sambalpur town, about 2 km from the railway station; Nuakhai and Navaratri are the busiest days.

Nearby

Leaning Temple of HumaStanding
The Mughal era and the resistance

Leaning Temple of Huma

A Shiva temple on a rock in the Mahanadi, 23 km south of Sambalpur, whose whole body leans to one side while its kalasha stays upright. Pilgrims come for Bimaleswara and to feed the tame kudo fish of the river.

Chandrahasini Devi Temple, ChandrapurStanding
Vedic Rishis and the Itihasa

Chandrahasini Devi Temple, Chandrapur

A Devi temple on a hill above the Mahanadi at Chandrapur, where Chhattisgarh tradition holds that Sati’s cheek fell. Her younger sister Nathaldai sits on an island in the river below.

Shivrinarayan (Sheorinarayan) TempleStanding
The long resistance: Sindh to Tarain

Shivrinarayan (Sheorinarayan) Temple

A Vishnu temple at the meeting of the Mahanadi, Shivnath and Jonk, named for Shabari, whose berries Shri Rama ate. Chhattisgarh calls it the Jagannath of the region and holds a great fair here at Magh Purnima.

Chandi Mata Temple, Ghunchapali (Bagbahra)Standing
Vedic Rishis and the Itihasa

Chandi Mata Temple, Ghunchapali (Bagbahra)

In the hills near Bagbahra a self-formed rock image of the Devi is worshipped as Chandi Mata, and in the evening a family of wild bears walks in for the prasad. Chhattisgarh comes to see both.