Biraja Temple, Jajpur – History

Biraja Temple, Jajpur – History

The Viraja Temple is one of the most prominent Shakta Peetha of Orissa. This Shrine had been mentioned in Mahabharata and Tantric Texts. Chodaganga, the founder of the Ganga dynasty of Kalinga, patronized and favored the shrine of Viraja, as the conquered the surrounding area in 1110 AD. The outer wall of the jagamohana of the Viraja temple contains two inscriptions of the time of Chodaganga.

Gajapati Rulers also patronized the Temple. The Temple also became associated with the cult of Jagannatha. The Bata Avakada, a work of the sixteenth century Oriya poet Balarama Dasa, refers to her as one of the divine female attendants of Lord Jagannatha along with Vimala, Saptamatrikas, sixty-four Yoginis, and nine Katyayanis.

Sri Chaitanya, a 16^th Century CE Vaishnavite saint also stated that he visited Viraja Temple and prayed to the goddess when he passed through Jajpur in the early 16^th century CE. The invasion of Orissa by the Muslims of Bengal in 1568 CE caused destruction to the medieval temple of Viraja at Jajpur. It is evident from the fact that the temple itself was entirely rebuilt at a certain stage of the modern period.

As per local folklore, a Muslim tyrant Al Bukhari, an Afghan iconoclast follower of Kalapahar, the commander-in-chief of the armies of the sultan of Bengal, was responsible for the destruction of many Hindu monuments at Jajpur, including the temple of Saptamatrikas. The ruins of Saptamatrikas were used in the construction of his tomb. The presiding deity, on the basis of its iconographical features can be dated to the Gupta period (5^th century AD). The present temple was built by late Choudhury Sudarsana Mohapatra in the 19th century.