Cuttack Chandi temple is a Hindu temple that is located in Cuttack, Odisha. The main deity that is worshipped in Cuttack Chandi temple is Chandi devi. Chandi devi also called Chandika is one of the avatars of Goddess Parvati who is Lord Shiva’s wife. She is considered to be a representation of Shakti, an important concept in the history of Hinduism. ‘Chandi’ is a word that refers to the divine powers that the Brahman or the Universe possess.
Goddess Chandi has been mentioned in several Hindu texts one of them being Markandeya Puran where she has been considered as a slayer of male demons. The iconography of Chandi Devi is wonderful in itself. Chandi Devi is shown with four hands. These four hands show her with a Paasha, an Ankusha, a hand in Abhay mudra and another hand granting boon to her devotees.
In Cuttack Chandi temple , Chandi devi is worshipped as Bhuvaneshvari Mahavidya which literally means the queen of the Universe. The place where Cuttack Chandi temple is right now was once a piece of barren land. One day a man called Hansa Panda, who was appointed as the royal priest of the king of Kanika decided to rest on a piece of barren land after doing some tedious work. When he was having some rest he felt something strange . Coincidently that same night he got a dream in which Chandi Devi told him to bring her out of that same piece of land where he took some rest.
The next day Hansa Panda approached the king and explained his dream to him. On Hansa Panda’s request the king ordered his men to dig that same piece of land . To everyone’s surprise , about forty bullock carts of red sindoor came out and then emerged the deity of Chandi Devi.
It was then decided to make a temple on that same piece of land to honour Chandi Devi. Thus, the temple called Cuttack Chandi was made and, till this day, the temple is visited by several devotees everyday. The image of Chandi Devi is older than the temple . Chandi Devi was considered an important deity during the reign of Gajapati kingdom, but when the Muslim rulers came she was buried while the kings went to Puri.
