Maa Mangala Temple is a Hindu temple located at Kakatpur of Odisha, India on the eastern coast of India. This is a 15th-century temple and a symbol of the ancient heritage of Kalinga. The holy Bay of Bengal is situated in the eastern side of the temple, the temple is situated at the eastern bank holy river "The Prachi", the Holy river Prachi was named as Saraswati before. The temple is reachable by the roads from Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Puri, Jagatsinghpur and Paradeep which are approximately 69 km,60 km,55 km,38 km and 83 km respectively and is well connected by roads.The nearest railway station is Bhubaneswar and the nearest airport is also Bhubaneswar."Maa Mangala" is a Hindu goddess who is one of the manifestations of "SHAKTI".The worship of the goddess is a part of the culture of Odisha.Before she was worshiped as goddess "Tara" by Buddhist monks. But when the deity was established at kakatpur, she was worshiping as the manifestations of Goddess "Durga".She is worshiping in the hymn of the goddess "Vanadurga". The curving style of the deity Mangala is typical odiya style, having khilana & prabha back to her sitting place.Also the style of temple is "Utkaliya Peedha Vimana Style"
History of the Evolution of the Deity
There is no written prove based on the evolution of the Deity. The legend behind the evolution has no base in ancient days. The myth is that before Odisha had a good commercial relationship with different island like singhala, java sumatra etc. Demon Ravana was worshiping goddess "Mangala" with his great devotion and became the most powerful by the blessing of Deity. After the victory of Lord Ram, goddess was taken to odisha from singhala by an sadhaba pua .At that time the Prachi civilization was getting civilized and developed more day by day & was only path to enter Utkala.That's why he established the Deity Mangala in Prachi valley. But the above legend has no written prove this is only oral prove by local people. So that this thesis has become a myth not a fact. So this can't be acceptable has the goddess was taken from Sri Lanka to Odisha. If we have look to the culture & curving style of Odisha & compare to curving style of goddess no doubt curving style is "Utkaliyas".
Temple architecture & Cult
The temple is built in typical Kalinga style and is a major pilgrimage for devotees of Shakti cult. Pilgrims frequent the temple seeking boons from Maa Mangala. There is a bed made of solid stone on which it is said Maa Mangala rests after touring the entire universe every day. As if to attest to this, the bed looks worn out in just the same way it would if it were in use for centuries.
Legend
Evolution of the name of the deity as 'Maa Mangala' hails from a legend believed by the locals of Kakatpur village people. Goddess Managla kept herself hidden under the deep water of river Prachi. Once a boatman was sailing his boat across river Prachi. At that time the river was outpouring and flooded so he was unable to sail his boat to the middle of the river. He spent whole day and night but not able to sail his boat and during early morning, before the dawn, Goddess Mangala came in his dream and asked him to recover her from the water and to establish her in nearby Mangalapur village. The boatman dived into the water and able to find the deity from the bed of the river. Then as per the direction of the Goddess he established the figure of the deity in a temple in Mangalapur village. After this the boatman saw a black crow dived into the water and did not come out of the water for hours and days, the crow detained inside the water of river Prachi exactly in the same place from where he recovered the figure of Goddess Mangala. In local oriya language 'Crow' means 'Kaka' and 'Detained' means 'Atka'. So by combining the two words it becomes 'Kaka-Atka', so during the course of time the Mangalapur village is known as 'Kakata' pur and the Goddess is known as Kakatpur Mangala. That time before 500 years ago Local Jamindar Roychudamoni family has made the mandir at Kakatpur with all the Sebak arrangement. This Mandir was Made by Panchanan Mitra on 1548A:D. This goddess is very famous with all the qualities of peace, power, happiness, love, purity, knowledge & truth.
Every twelve to nineteen years when the Idols of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra are replaced during the Nabakalevara rite, Priests of the temple in Puri pray to Maa Mangala in the Kakatpur temple to give them divine guidance. The goddess appears in their dreams and reveals the location of the three divine Daru Bramha trees from which idols of the deities are made "Maa Sarba Mangala" A book which contains real story of Maa Mangala and the spiritual connection between the Goddess and lord Jagannath. The 'Bhaktas' who really want to acquire knowledge on lord Jagannath and Goddess Maa Sarba Mangala must read the book which is written by Raghunandan Panda, Sebak of Maa Sarba Mangala. He was a teacher and belongs to Kakatpur. He has spent almost 25 years from his busy schedule in doing research on Kakatpur Mangala. He has shared all his experience in the form of his book which will enlighten the whole story. The book is available only in Kakatpur.
