Taratarini

Taratarini is the twin goddess of the Taratarini temple on the Kumari hill near Purushottampur in Ganjam district, on the bank of the Rushikulya river. The sanctum holds two stone faces, adorned with gold and silver ornaments, which are worshipped as the sisters Tara and Tarini. Tradition counts the shrine among the Adi Shakti Peethas, specifically as the Stana Peetha, the breast shrine of Sati. Large crowds visit on the Tuesdays of the Chaitra Mela in March and April, and the temple draws pilgrims from across Odisha and beyond.

According to local lore, the two stones of the sanctum are the breasts of Sati, the wife of Shiva. In the Shakta tradition, after Sati died at the yajna of her father Daksha, her body was cut by the discus of Vishnu and the parts fell at sites across the country, which became the Peethas...