Ugratara Devalaya
| Ugratara Devalaya | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Hinduism |
| District | Kamrup metropolitan district |
| Deity | Ugratara |
| Festivals | Durga puja, Manasa puja |
| Location | |
| Location | Uzan Bazaar |
| State | Assam |
| Country | India |
Interactive map of Ugratara Devalaya | |
| Coordinates | 26°10′48″N 91°44′24″E / 26.18000°N 91.74000°E |
| Architecture | |
| Type | Nilachal architecture |
| Creator | Siva Singha |
| Established | 1725 |
Ugratara Devalaya is a temple dedicated to Ugratara located in the western side of Jor Pukhury tanks in the heart of Guwahati city in the Lotaxil (Latasil) locality in Northeast India. The Ugratara Temple in Uzan Bazaar in the eastern part of Guwahati, Assam, is a Shakti shrine. Legend has said that the navel of Sati, first consort of Shiva, is related to this temple. Ugratara in Assam is generally identified with Tiksna-Kanta, Eka-Jata, etc., of the Buddhist pantheon.[1][2] Dikkara vasini has two forms, Tikshna kantha and Lalitha kantha. Tikshna kantha is black and pot bellied, also called as Ugra Tara or Eka jata. Lalitha kantha is gracefully attractive, also called as Tamreshwari.[3]
In the garbhagriha of Ugra Tara there is no image or idol of her. A small pit filled with water is considered as the Goddess. There is a Shivalaya beside Ugra Tara temple and a pond behind both temples.
The present temple was constructed in Saka 1647 (1725 CE) during the reign of the Ahom king Siva Singha, as recorded in a stone inscription at the temple.[4] The shrine or religious establishment, however, appears to have existed before the construction of the present building. A copper-plate inscription dated to Saka 1637 (1715 CE) records a grant of land to the temples of Kamakhya, Pandunath and Ugratara.[5]
An earlier origin for the shrine has been proposed by several scholars. Kanak Lal Barua identified the stone enclosure around the site with Durjaya, the capital of the Kamarupa Pala king Ratnapala, and suggested that a temple of Ugratara may have been constructed within the citadel by Ratnapala or his successor Indrapala.[6] Maheswar Neog also associated the site with the early worship of Ekajata or Ugratara and attributed a subsequent reconstruction of the temple to Ratnapala or Indrapala.[7] This interpretation has been repeated in later scholarship,[8] although no surviving inscription has yet been identified that directly attributes a temple at the site to either Pala ruler.
Sthala Purana
Once upon a time, Yama (Lord of the Hell) made a complaint to Brahma that nobody is coming to Hell from Kamarupa because of the sacredness of the area, despite committing sins. Brahma carried this complaint to Vishnu. Vishnu took them to Shiva. Lord Shiva ordered Goddess Ugra Tara to drive away all the people who are living in Kamakhya. She sent her army.
In the course of this drive, they laid their hands on Rishi Vasishtha who was meditating on Shiva at Sandhyachal. Vasishtha became angry and cursed Ugra Tara and Shiva. From then onwards all the Vedic (Shiva) sadhanas are given up in Kama rupa and Ugra Tara became a Goddess of Vamachara sadhana. All her army became Mlechhas.
Sadhana
Ugra Tara is worshiped in general like Kamakhya. She likes liquor, flesh, Modaka, coconuts, and sugar cane.
References
- ↑ Reflections on the Tantras. S̄udhakar Chattopadhyaya. 1978. p. 76. ISBN 978-81-208-0691-7.
- ↑ The social function of art by Radhakamal Mukerjee. Philosophical Library. 1954. p. 151.
- ↑ David Gordon White The Alchemical Body: Siddha Traditions in Medieval India, (Kindle Locations 1613–1615). University of Chicago Press. Kindle Edition. "This coastal location reminds us of what may have been Tārā's original role: she was a goddess of navigation, of sea crossings— tārā is generated from the verb tṛ, to cross over the sea."
- ↑ Thakuria, G. (2018). Studies in the Inscriptions of Medieval Assam. Delhi: Pratibha Prakashan. p. 29.
- ↑ Neog, Maheswar (1974). Prachya-Sasanavali. Guwahati: Publication Board Assam. pp. 25–26.
- ↑ Barua, Kanak Lal (July 1934). "Kamarupa and Vajrayana". Journal of the Assam Research Society. 2 (2): 48.
- ↑ Maheswar Neog, The Indian Historical Quarterly, vol. 27, 1951, p. 147.
- ↑ Bhuyan, Rashmi Rekha (2021). "Religious Interaction in Early Medieval Kamarupa: An Insight into the Kalikapurana". Indian Historical Review. 48 (2): 218–232. doi:10.1177/03769836211052098.