Dewri Mandir is a mandir situated in Diuri village, Tamar near

Ranchi Ranchi (, ) is the capital of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern Odisha, western West Bengal and the eastern area ...

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...

in India. It is located near the Tata-Ranchi Highway (NH33). The main attraction of this ancient mandir is, 700 year old

murti In the Hindu tradition, a ''murti'' ( sa, मूर्ति, mūrti, ) is a devotional image such as a statue, or "idol" (a common and non-pejorative term in Indian English), of a deity or saint. In Hindu temples, it is a symbolic icon. Thus ...

of the Goddess

Durga Durga ( sa, दुर्गा, ) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars. Durga's legend centres around co ...

, Kali. The ''murti'' have 16 hands (Normally Goddess Durga has 10 Hands). It is an ancient Mandir and It was renovated few years back. The ancient mandir was constructed by interlocking stones without using chalk or binding material. This temple is also known as, ''Mata Dewri Diri'' in tribal

Bhumij Bhumij may refer to: *Bhumij people, tribal ethnic group of India * Bhumij language, the language of Bhumij people *Bhumija Bhumija is a variety of north Indian temple architecture marked by how the rotating square-circle principle is applied to ...

Munda languages. At the temple devotees tie yellow and red sacred threads on bamboo for the fulfilment of their wishes. Upon the fulfillment of their wishes, they again come to the temple and untie the thread. Dedicated to Solha Bhuji Goddess, an

avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearanc ...

of Goddess Durga, Dewri Mandir temple is located a little outside the main city of Ranchi. Spread over nearly two acres, this old temple in Ranchi also houses an idol of Lord

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

here. As per the Legends, whoever has tried to alter the structure of this temple, has had to face the wrath of the gods and suffer consequences. Dewri Temple is also believed to be the only temple where six tribal priests, known as ''Pahans'', perform rituals and offer prayers alongside the

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...

priests, who are mainly known as ''Pandas''. Located about 60 km from Ranchi, this temple is on the right side of the Ranchi-Tata road, toward the town of Tamar.

Architecture

It is said that this Mandir was built during 16th to 20th century. The doors of this Mandir is made up of stone. This Mandir's deity's

Murti In the Hindu tradition, a ''murti'' ( sa, मूर्ति, mūrti, ) is a devotional image such as a statue, or "idol" (a common and non-pejorative term in Indian English), of a deity or saint. In Hindu temples, it is a symbolic icon. Thus ...

have sixteen hands. According to the media reports this Mandir's murti's architecture style is similar to the murti's found in temples of

Odisha state Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of S ...

Deity

This

mandir A Hindu temple, or ''mandir'' or ''koil'' in Indian languages, is a house, seat and body of divinity for Hindus. It is a structure designed to bring human beings and gods together through worship, sacrifice, and devotion.; Quote: "The Hind ...

is of '' Maa'' (mother) Deudi

Devi Devī (; Sanskrit: देवी) is the Sanskrit word for 'goddess'; the masculine form is ''deva''. ''Devi'' and ''deva'' mean 'heavenly, divine, anything of excellence', and are also gender-specific terms for a deity in Hinduism. The conce ...

. Devadi Maa is

Maa Kali Kali (; sa, काली, ), also referred to as Mahakali, Bhadrakali, and Kalika ( sa, कालिका), is a Hindu goddess who is considered to be the goddess of ultimate power, time, destruction and change in Shaktism. In this tradit ...

. The

of the deity has 16 arms and it is 3 foot tall. Deity is holding bow, shield, flower and ''param'' in her arms. Deori ''Maa's'' ''Murti'' have different types of Gold jewelry. This deity's name also reported as Dewri devi.

Legends

According to a legend associated with this Mandir this Mandir was built by

Adivasi The Adivasi refers to inhabitants of Indian subcontinent, generally tribal people. The term is a Sanskrit word coined in the 1930s by political activists to give the tribal people an indigenous identity by claiming an indigenous origin. The term ...

king ''Kera''. It is believed that this Mandir is 700 years old. It is said that this temple was established in year 1300 by King Kera, a Munda king of Singhbhum. Legends says that the king established, built this Mandir, when he was returning from a war after defeating. He established this temple at this very place and by the blessings of goddess Ma (Mother) Kali he got his state back. According to anathor legend, ''Chamru'' ''pandas'' (

) use to come to visit two times in a year to the king of this region. The king asked them to live in this place to do '' puja'', and they started to live at this place. One day these ''Brahmins'' was doing ''tapasya'' in this wild, when goddess gave '' darshan'' (visit) to them and said she wants to meet them. The Brahmins told this incident to the king. King cleared this temple's area, during this work they found a black stone. The labours returned their respective homes after being tired, they came next day to do work when they saw a mandir formed at this place. Some peoples believes that this mandir was built by Emperor Ashok, when he was on the war campaign of Kalinga (Now knows as

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

Mandir

The Mandir have impact of tribal culture (specially

tribes). Here tribal peoples do the work of everyday ''puja''. The temple is situated near Ranchi of Jharkhand. Tribal ''pahans'' (prist) do the ''puja'' for six days of week and only one day a '' Brhamin'' do the work of ''puja'' at this temple. The ''

Garbhagriha A ''garbhagriha'' or ''sannidhanam'' is the ''sanctum sanctorum'', the innermost sanctuary of a Hindu and Jain temples where resides the ''murti'' (idol or icon) of the primary deity of the temple. In Jainism, the main deity is known as the ''M ...

'' have the ''murti'' of Maa Deudi Devi. • Renovation This mandir is renovated. The new temple bult around the ancient Mandir, which was said to bulit in 1300 A.D. A compound wall built around this temple. Artist from Odisha done the work of design carvings. The priests of this temple do not know exactly how old is this Mandir.

Administration

In October 2020 the district government took over the charge of the temple management after frequent complaints of wrongdoings and lack of transparency in the functioning. It is administered by 13 member committee, which have representatives from administration, 2 public representatives and rest from are from temple and nearby village's citizens. Beforere that the temple was run by few priest and some locals, who alleged to mismanagement.

References

{{Reflist Hindu temples in Jharkhand Durga temples Kali temples