Jogadya Temple Kshirgram Shakti Peeth near Katwa Burdwan

The Yogodya Temple at Kshirgram or Kheergram near Katwa in the district of Purba Burdwan is one of the 51 sati peeths spread across India and also outside. According to Hindu Mythology the thumb of right feet of Sati fell here. Devi is known as Yogadya and Bhairav is Kshireshwar Mahadev.

The history of this temple is quite unique and covered in mystery. The most intriguing part is that the deity of this temple, worshipped as Durga, is submerged under water round the year and only picked up and worshipped on certain days. The general public can see the deity only on two days in a year.

The temple is also half submerged in a large waterbody known as kheerpukur. The sanctum sanctorum which houses the deity, is completely submerged under water.
Nobody knows how old the deity is. It is said that a long time ago this entire area was covered with forest and the deity belonged to the aboriginals, the local tribes who lived here. There was no temple in those times but only the deity placed on an alter as is found with most tribal gods. Later in the course of time how the deity changed hands and started being worshipped by the Brahmins as Vedic goddess, is shrouded in mystery.

Apart from the temple half submerged in water, there is another temple nearby which houses no deity but only a ‘Ratnabedi’ or a holy alter, is known as the old temple. It is said that the ‘Ratnabedi; was built over the thumb of the right leg of Sati which fell here. The Ratnabedi has a round hollow, which according to mythology leads straight to ‘Patal’ or underground. There is a story linked to Ramayana and according to the saying, Hanuman along with the deity, emerged out of this tunnel after slaying Ahiravana and Mahiravana, two demons who were brothers of Ravana, and set the deity here on the holy alter. Since then the deity was here, right on the holy ‘Ratnabedi” and worshipped. However more than 200 years back the deity was shifted to nearby Kshirdighee or Kheerdighi and placed under water.

This was probably done to protect the deity from the plundering army of the Muslim rulers of Bengal or the marauding ‘Bargis’, the Maratha light cavalry which created havoc in these parts of Bengal for more than 10 years between 1741 to 1751. In fact, Bhaskar Pandit, the Maratha leader, had set his base at Dainhat which is not very far from here.

This temple although know as the ‘adi’ or the old temple, the structure is not very old. It is believed that the temple was built around the deity at later date and over a considerably long period of time, maybe starting as a humble mud cottage. The current temple was built with patronage of the Raj family of Burdwan who took interest and developed the temple. However, the current structure is pretty simple, devoid of any exuberance in terms of stone or terracotta work.

In this video I have tried to take the viewers on a virtual tour of both the temples and narrate both fact and the stories that goes around them.

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