Kalijai

Kalijai is the guardian goddess of Chilika lake, worshipped at a small island shrine in the lake, within reach of Khordha and Ganjam districts. Fishing communities and boatmen turn to her for safe passage across the water. The goddess is remembered through the story of a young bride named Jai, who died when her boat sank in a storm on the lake. Some sources also identify her with Kali. Thousands of devotees cross by boat for the large fair held in January at Makar Sankranti.

According to the common local story, a newly married girl named Jai was travelling by boat with her father to her in-laws' home on an island of Chilika. A sudden storm overturned the boat. Jai was lost while her father and the boatman survived. Accounts differ in detail: some say the storm began...