Maa Tara Tarini Sthana Peeth, Ganjam, Odisha

Chaitra Mela Third Tuesday at Maa Taratarini hill shrine (Breast Shrine of Adi Shakti), Odisha

Three lacs of devotees throng Tara Tarini Shakti Pitha

National weightlifting championship starts in Berhampur

The five-day national weightlifting championship, 2011, will begin in Silk city Berhampur on December 24. As many as 300 weightlifters from across the country, including 100 woman participants, will participate in the event, while around 100 officials, including those from the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) will conduct the tournament.

"Over 100 weightlifters and several officials have already reached the town. Several others will reach on Saturday morning due to late running of some long-distance trains," the vice president of the IWF and the organizing secretary of the event, Narayan Sahu, said on Friday. The participants include several international and national award winners, he added.

The technical committee of the federation has already done the final inspection of the makeshift stage erected inside the Berhampur Stadium, where the event will be held. Some of the participants have begun practicing, and the preparation is almost complete, Sahu said.

The mega event assumes significance as Berhampur has produced several international and national-level weightlifters, including two Arjuna award winners - K Ravi Kumar and Bijay Satapathy.

"We are very happy, as the city, that has produced a number of noted weightlifters, is holding the national meet for the first time," said the advisor of the Odisha Weightlifting Association (OWA), Biswanath Patra.

Apart from weightlifters, the city has also produced some reputed weightlifting coaches, including Narayan Sahu, Sita Nath Patnaik and Ramesh Padhy.

Prahalad nataka: A form of traditional theatre from southern district of Orissa

By Priya Pryadarshini, Bhanja Bihar, Berhampur 

Ganjam is the hub of classical and traditional beauty. Be it in the terms of song, dance, drama or theatrical show, Ganjam has a unique position in all these regards. Among all ‘Prahalad Nataka’ stands tall in all respective quarters of the culture. The tale is based on the incarnation of Lord Vishnu, ‘Nursingha’. Prahalad the great devotee of Lord Vishnu goes against the will of his father and worships Vishnu. Hiranyakashyap the father of Prahalad declares himself as the God and rebels against the almighty for which he gets punished.

The play is developed from the stories of mythological books like ‘Bhagat Gita’, ‘Vishnu Purana’ and ‘Nursingha Purana’. The act is full of emotions varying from courage to anger.

Source: flickr

King Ramakrushna Chotray of Jalanta was the first to initiate the production of this act. He called the famous dramatist and musician Gaurahar Parcha of Paralakhamundi who scripted the play for the first time. It was the first enacted in the region of Jalanta. It is primarily an Odiya play. Yet, the neighboring Telugu speaking regions do translate it into their own language and do perform it in their own areas. It is a play which has classical music as its main element.

In Ganjam the play is also called as ‘Rajanataka’. It continues for three to seven nights. The play though not edited in the form of episode or serial number has got a special way of presenting style. The presenter first starts the act by reciting the ‘Gurudeva’, ‘Ganesh’ and ‘Sarada Vandana’. After that the summary of the script is presented. Next the characters are called on the stage and the presentation goes on.

‘Prahalad Nataka’ is famous because of its presentation style and subject matter. Mostly the dance format is used for description of each character that also speaks of the emotions like devotion and pride.

Source: Orissadiary.com

New chairman of Tara Tarini Development Board takes charge

The new Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC) of Southern Division, Odisha, Shri Laxmi Narayan Nayak has taken over the charge of new chairmanship of the Tara Tarini Development Board (TTDB), on March 16. The Board is considered as one of the prominent temple administrative bodies of Odisha after the Jagannath Temple administration, Puri.

The prehistoric Tara Tarini hill shrine is believed to be the Sthana Peetha (Breast Shrine) of Adi Shakti and as one amongst the four major ancient Shakti shrines in India. TTDB was formed in the year 2003 for the development of the hill shrine. After the formation of TTDB the shrine got the much needed attention along with infrastructure. As per the convention of the Board, Shri Nayak who has recently joined as the new RDC, Southern Division has taken over charges from the outgoing RDC and the Chairman of TTDB Shri Chandra Sekhar Kumar. On this occasion the TTDB office bearers, members and the temple administration while congratulating Shri Nayak expressed the hope that the Hill Shrine will become a great center of religious and tourist importance like Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine in Jammu & Kashmir and Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh under his chairmanship.

After taking over the charge Shri Nayak visited the holy shrine and discussed the status of the 2nd phase of work, which is going on in full pace. Board secretary, Executive officer TTDB and other Board Members tabled the draft of the 2nd phase of work. It was agreed that the Board would ensure the completion of the ongoing projects like the widening of Ghat road and unfinished first phase work of the main temple complex before the commencement of the forthcoming Chaitra Mela, which was visited by more than 20 lakh devotees last year during the month of Chaitra.

It is worth mentioning that the second phase work of the temple which is presently underway includes the following projects;

• Construction of, four side-temples, boundary wall and outer protection wall / river side retaining wall to check land sliding and soil erosion at the hilltop.
• Construction of administrative office, Mundan shade and Bhog Bazaar on the hilltop.
• Construction of a big public utilities complex.
• Construction of waiting hall for the Rope-way on the hilltop.
• Further development of Arial Rope-way.
• Construction of huge parking space at the hilltop.
• Flood lighting arrangements at the hilltop and inside the temple premises. Lighting arrangement on the 999 holy stone steps and road leading to the Hilltop from Tara Tarini junction.
• Further widening of stone steps and ghat road leading to the hill top.
• Maintenance of eco-system in and around the sacred hill by huge plantation in its nearby areas.
• Construction of a hospital, a residential school and training centre for the physically challenged etc.

In the mean time the traditional ritualistic inaugural ceremony of the new temple of Tara Tarini hill shrine which was scheduled to be held on March 03 -09, has been deferred. The new chairman of TTDB in consultation with the Vedic pundits will decide the new date for this ceremony on 24th March. Decision to defer the inauguration ceremony was taken at a meeting of Vedic pundits. Twelve senior Vedic pundits from all the nine traditional taluks of Ganjam district have been invited to the March 24th meeting convened by the TTDB. Among others, TTDB Vice President and Ganjam Collector, office bearers, members of the technical committee, members of TTDB and senior officials of government of Odisha and district administration will participate. In this meeting the new Chairman will also review the progress of on-going works, including the dedicated bus service to the hill shrine from Berhampur city and other towns of the district, construction of a bus Stand on the foot hill, permanent accommodation facility for the visitors on the foot hill and about the decision of the Ministry of Law govt. of Orissa to recover all the donated cultivated and uncultivated land (Around 600 acres of land in various parts of the state) on the lines of Jagannath Temple, Puri.