Banarpal: If residents of Gotmara village under this block in Angul district look askance at you if you want to know anything about Maa Kamadevi, don’t wonder.
Maa Kamadevi has been the presiding deity of Gotmara village for about 200 years. Like mother taking care of her children, locals believe Maa protects those who come to her altar. Examples of wishes fulfilled after visiting Maa’s shrine are many. Among them are the devotees who have achieved desired results, be it a legal or marriage issue.
The elderly villagers have so many incidents that make you believe that Maa is always there to respond to her children’s prayers.
When asked about the most striking incidents, the locals said, “In earlier days Maa used to be worshipped in our village. In 1981, Nalco plant was set up whereby the shrine went into its boundary.
At that time, the Nalco authorities tried their best to displace the shrine. With an intention to put the priest behind the bars and raze the shrine, they even arrived with a JCB. When its driver moved forward with the machine, to the utter surprise of the plant authorities, he vomited blood and fell sick, forcing the authorities to go back.
While the incident helped spread Maa’s name, people have been worshipping her since then in the plant premises. Any contractor or engineer who begins work at the plant can ill-afford to begin it without offering prayers or puja to Maa. They believe if they commence their work without offering prayers to Maa, loss is inevitable.
Every year on the occasion of Ashokastami in the Odia month of ‘Chaitra’, a grand festival will be held at the shrine at which 324 Ashoka flower buds are offered to Maa. The representative idol of the deity is taken out in a grand procession and it culminates at CPP plant after doing rounds of the village. The priest there performs puja to Maa following the traditional rituals.
While the security staff and CRPF personnel do not let commoners go inside the plant to visit the shrine on normal days, they keep the plant gate open for them on the occasion of Maa’s annual celebration. On that day, plant authorities provide devotees with a gate pass.
A plant employee, Bibhab Jena, a devotee of Maa, says, “I have seen so many instances of contractors suffering losses for not offering ‘puja’ to Maa before commencing their works.”
Priest Chandramani Mahapatra said, “Maa’s self emergence took place 200 years ago. And since then she has been worshipped with all devotion.”
PNN