JAJPUR: Lord Narayan Gosain, a popular deity in and outside Jajpur district, has been staying immersed in a pond for the past 441 years. He appears only to give public darshan for three days in a year. The deity is worshipped with religious fervour and gaiety during the three days in a remote Singhapur village under Rasulpur block in the district. The annual ritual called ‘Singhapur Yatra’ is witnessed by a large number of devotees on all the three days.
Lord Narayan Gosain appears on ‘Mahabisubha Sankranti’, better known as ‘Pana Sankranti’ and is immersed in the pond, adjacent to his temple on the fourth day, where he resides for the rest of the year. Lakhs of devotees across the state throng Singhapur during the three days and offer prayers to their beloved Lord at the sacred place, called ‘Madhutirtha Khetra’.
Legend has it that a bigoted Muslim and infamous idol destroyer, Kalapahada invaded Utkal during the reign of Mukunda Dev and left behind a trail of demolished temples, shrines and idols wherever he went in 1568 AD. After unleashing a reign of terror in Shreekshetra at Puri, he arrived at Jajpur, the nation’s most ancient Shakti Peetha. In order to protect the idol of Lord Narayan Gosain from the Muslim invader, the then Madhupurgarh king hid the Lord’s idol inside a tank full of water in Singhapur. A few days later, the king had a dream wherein the Lord asked him to take out the idol from the water and worship it. Since then, the idol is taken out of Singhapur pond on the ‘Pana Sankranti’.
‘‘Every year Singhapur yatra is celebrated with much fanfare in our villages. Locals turn vegetarian and non-vegetarian food is completely banned during the yatra. Every year on the occasion of ‘Pana Sankranti’, we take out Narayan Gosain’s idol from under water and then worship it for three days. After the yatra, the idol is again taken in a procession and immersed in water, where he comes from,’’ said Gauranga Charan Nayak, a resident of Singhapur.
According to tradition, first the king of Madhupurgarh (kingdom) comes and performs puja to the Lord in the pond bank as Narayan Gosain is the presiding deity of the royal family.
After the puja, devotees take part in the ceremony, after which the idol is taken out from the water and worshipped, said Sukadev Pati, chief priest to the royal family.
