Pataneswari

Pataneswari, also written Patneswari, is the presiding goddess of Patnagarh, the former capital of the Patna kingdom, about 40 kilometres west of Balangir in western Odisha. She is enshrined as a ten-armed Mahishasuramardini holding weapons that include a sword, shield, bow and arrow, thunderbolt, snake and a long trident. The shrine is described as a Shakti pitha in the Chalukya style and is regarded as the prime deity of the Chauhan king who built it. It stands among older monuments of the town, including the twelfth century Someswar Shiva temple.

Sources credit Ramai Deo, the first Chauhan ruler of Patna, with building the temple. One source dates its origin to the fourteenth century. Another calls Patneswari the prime deity of that king.