Narendra Tank, Puri – Legends

Narendra Tank, Puri – Legends

Narendra Tank:

As per legend, Narendra Deva, the brother of Gajapati Kapilendra Deva excavated this tank and it was so named after him. It is said that Veer Narendra Deva, his younger brother sacrificed his life for the sake of his motherland.  After his death, his wife Kalandi Mahadevi took up sanyas and began to live in a garden. She was a devotee of Lord Shiva and Lord Krishna. Babaji Govinda Das was her Guru. One day, the Guru gave a pumpkin seed to the queen.

The growth of the plant was so luxurious that it spread out over a large area.  Hundreds of pumpkins were produced. These pumpkins were used for preparing the Maha prasada at the temple. The news spread far and wide. Gajapati Kapilendra Deva heard about it and visited the garden accompanied by his Guru, Mahadev Brahma. At that time Babaji Govinda Das was engaged in the worship of Lord Gopinath. 

Govinda Das blessed the king and requested him to excavate a tank named after her late husband, Veer Narendra Deva. He also requested him to name two Ghats after Narendra Deva and his queen Kalandi Devi. The king also constructed fourteen Ghats named after the fourteen sons of Narendra Dev. 

The Chandana bije ghat (Lamba Chakada) was constructed for the purpose of conducting “Chandan bije” of Lord Jagannath. This Chakada is named after Narendra Deva. He also constructed a temple of Kalandishvara Shiva and Gopinath on the bank of the holy tank. The Brahma jaga, named after the court poet Narahari Brahma, was also established. The famous Chandan yatra of Lord Jagannath is being observed with pomp and ceremony since those days. 

Excavation of Narendra Tank:

King Narendra Deva was a great devotee of Lord Jagannath. Once he found a pumpkin seed in the courtyard of his palace. He gave the seed to his Sarbarakara (Revenue Collector) to plant the seed in the name of Lord Jagannath and to offer all the pumpkins thus produced to the Lord. The Sarbarakara did as instructed. The pumpkin creeper grew to such an extent that it covered an area of fourteen acres. This creeper produced lakhs of pumpkins. 

The Sarbarakara sold the pumpkins and deposited the money to the king. King Narendra Deva, in turn, offered the money to the Gajapati king of Puri. Subsequently, both the kings decided to construct a tank at Shrikshetra out of this fund. The tank was to cover an area of fourteen acres, the equivalent of the area covered by the pumpkin creeper. Thus, the famous Narendra Tank came into existence.