Varah or Gada Kshetra – Jajpur

Hundred miles north of Bhubaneswar lay a sleepy town called Jajpur. Jajpur is the erstwhile capital of Kalinga. It is believed that the great Somavanshi King Jajati Keshari created the modern day Odisha bringing together Kosala and Kalinga. He made Jajapur as his capital.

Jajpur is considered to be as holy as Puri and is built on constructs of Puri. A place now bustling with chromite mining and mega steel projects was once compared to Prayag and Varanasi. It is often called the pitru tirtha(place where you pay the last rites to your forefathers). It is believed that Jajpur is the only place where king Jajati conducted the Dasashwamedha Yajna. For this, he brought 10,000 Brahmins from North India and settled them in various Sasanas for which now we find a series of Brahmana Sasana villages in Jajpur area. Some historians are of the opinion that Yajati Kesari made his capital here and named the city as Jajapur.

Jajpur is the only place in India and Biraja Temple the only temple where the Lord Vishnu is worshipped in his Varaha incarnation.

A pilgrimage of lifetime and historical connections

• In ancient times Jajpur was called as Viraja or Parvati Khetra. At times it was also known as Baitarani Tirtha. Viraja Khetra finds mention in Sanskrit in the Mahabharata. “Tato Baitranim gachhet Sarvapapa Pramochanim Birajatirtha masadya virajate Yatha Sasi”
• The Puranic literatures refer to Viraja as Baitarani Tirtha, which was one of the famous tirthas of India. The place has also been described in the Kapilasamhita, Brahmanda Purana, Vayu Purana, Brahma Purana, Tantrachintamani, Astapithamahatmaya and Chaitanya-charitamrita.
• Jajpur is very close to Kapilesvara, the birthplace of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s grandfather. It is the place from where His grandfather’s family had moved to west Bengal. Lord Sri Krishna Chaitanya’s Lotus foot print by the melting of stone at varaha kshetra inside Varaha temple.
• Jajpur is known as a great Shavite destination. It is often referred to as the places with “One less than One Crore” Siva lingas. References from many old texts say that “Dig anywhere in Birajakshetra and you will stumble upon a Shiva Linga”. Presence of many ancient Shiva temples in the town and even the occurrence of series of Shivalings in the Biraja temple ( Rudra Mela) along with the practice of worshipping Lord Shiva in the form of Ishaneswar and Vaidyanath inside the Biraja temple point to the fact. Not taking the dilapidated structures into account, estimates suggest that there are around 240 ancient Shiva temples in the Biraja Kshetra.
• Yajna Varaha, Sveta Varaha, Lakshmi Varaha and Padma Varaha deva. In satya yug varahadev appeared here who killed demon Hiranyakhya, in other kalpas also different varahadev appears here, and because of that this is called Varaha Kshetra.
• One of the four most holy places (Char Dhams) in the religious tradition of Vaishnavism or Hinduism is located in Odisha. According to the tradition, Lord Vishnu after killing the demon Gayasura (at Gaya city of Modern Bihar), to commemorate the glory of His victory, placed his Sankha (Conch) in Puri, Chakra (Disc) in Bhubaneswar, Gada (Mace) in Jajpur and Padma (Lotus) in Konark and they were later known as Sankha Kshetra, Chakra Kshetra, Gada Kshetra and Padma Kshetra respectively in spiritual and religious tradition.
• Dasawasamedha ghat: Combination of all 64 holy places water present in Baitarani River. Whoever takes bath in this ghat gets Vaikuntha liberation with four armed form. The well known Dasaswasamedha Ghat built by the Somavansi King , Jajati Keshari , where the great Aswamedha Yajna was performed during the 10th century still exists under the piles of sand. Seven form of Durga Devi (Suvadra Maharani or Yogamaya …………..) known as seven sister, resides on this ghat.
• Viraja Temple where the deity Viraja Devi( the goddess of viraja river, the consciousness) is yogamaya herself stays in Jajpur. Orissa has two kshetras one is ShriKshetra Puri where Supreme Personality of godhead stays. Another is this Viraja Kshetra where Yogamaya (Viraja Devi) the supreme potency of Lord Jagannath stays, so it is complete dham.
• According to the Linga Purana, Viraja originated from the sacrificial altar where Brahma made a yajna at Jaipur. Brahmakunda of Jajpur is believed to be the site of yajna. Since then, Viraja kshetra was famous all over India and it is believed that seven generations of ancestors get salvation when one visits the pitha of mother Viraja. There are other 68 subsidiary tirthas at Jajpur to heighten the glory of Viraja.

Legends

According to a legend - when the creator-god Brahma was performing Ashvamedha yajna (sacrifice), he realised that the Vedas (scriptures) were stolen. He then requested Vishnu for help to retrieve them. As soon as the yajna was completed, Vishnu emerged from the sacrificial fire in the form of a boar - his avatar Varaha - with the stolen scriptures. From that time onwards, the location of the yajna came to be known as Jajfiapura or Jajpur. In some versions, Brahma completes ten Ashvamedha yajnas, after which Varaha appears.

Another legend goes like - Siva became disconsolate when his wife Sati died. He moved madly with her corpse. In order to put an end to this trauma of Siva, Lord Visnu cut the corpse into three pieces with His Chakra. The naval portion fell at Baitarini Tirtha, i.e., at Jajpur for which it became famous as Navigaya. A temple of Sati was built subsequently which later on became famous as Viraja.

Since then, Virajakhetra was famous all over India and it is believed that seven generations of ancestors get salvation when one visits the pitha of mother Viraja. There are other 68 subsidiary tirthas at Jajpur to heighten the glory of Viraja.

Other Places of importance

• Chhatia : Situated at a distance of 25kms from Cuttack, Chhatia is famous for Lord Jagannath Temple.
• Chandikhol : Chandikhol, which is at a distance of 40kms from Cuttack, is an attractive picnic spot with natural springs and sceneries.
• Mahabinayak : At a distance of 2 kms from Chandikhol to the west, is situated the Mahabinayak. The Tourists can enjoy its natural surroundings and the temples of Lord Binayak.
• Lalitgiri, Ratnagiri & Udayagiri : The three Boudh Vihars are at a distance of 70kms from Cuttack. The famous Buddhist Complex is said to be ancient seat of Puspagiri, the buddhist university of 7th century A.D. Recently a statue of emperor Ashok is being discovered form Langudi hill. Puspagiri Vihar is known to be the oldest universities of Asia. It is believed to have existed a century ahead of Nalanda and Taxila. It was discovered in 1995 by the Archeological Survey of India.

Jajpur is now famous for mega steel plants like Mesco, Visa-Posco, Tatasteel, Jindal and Nilachal Ispat. It is estimated to have 99.8% of chromite(steel ore) in entire India. So the next time you see steel you know where it comes from..

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