Berhampur: Like any other temple dedicated to goddesses, Dandumarama temple in Gajapati district’s Paralakhemundi is dedicated to goddess Dandamaramma (in Telugu) and Dandu maa (in Odia). Navaratri Puja is observed in this temple through rituals and yagnas like any other Devi temples.Goddess Dandamaramma temple is, however, unique than other Devi temples, as it opens for 11 days in a year during the celebration of Navaratri puja and on the second Tuesday after Dussehra. People from far-off places in the state and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh throng the temple during the period to catch a glimpse of the deity.Intense crowds can be seen in the evenings during Navaratri. “We are expecting the crowd to increase from the day of Mahasaptami,” said K Satish Kumar, president of the temple development committee.He said the door of the temple was opened on the first day of the Navaratri with rituals and yagna. The ritual continues into midnight of the last day of Dussehra. Then the door of the temple is closed and again opened on the second Tuesday after Dussehra. Then the doors remain close for the next day,” he said.Neither the deity is offered ritual nor do devotees visit the temple on other days of the year, as the door remains closed. This practice has continued for past several years, he said without elaborating the reason behind it. “Our forefathers had practised it and we continued the same tradition,” said committee secretary P Raghu.Rama Rao, a priest, said before closing the temple doors, a coconut would be kept in an earthen pot, called as ghata in the room as an offering to the deity.Interestingly, the coconut remains intake when the doors are opened after a year. It is distributed among the devotees during the Navaratri ritual, he said.
