TaraTarini Hill Shrine among the most visited destinations of India

The famous Taratarini Hill Shrine, considered as the Sthana Peetha (Breast Shrine) of Mata Sati, is one amongst the four major ancient Shakti centers (Adi Shakti Peetha) of India and an important prehistoric religious center which bears an uninterrupted history of 6000 years. Owing to the recent initiatives of the Development Board the Hill Shrine has emerged as one of the most visited religious destinations of the State.
According to the data available from the ‘Taratarini Development Board’, this year in the auspicious month of Chaitra (March / April 2009) more than 17 lakh devotees visited the Shrine within a month from various parts of India for a Darshan of the Twin Goddesses. A good number of NRIs and foreigners also visited the Shrine this year. It is noteworthy, that the four holy Tuesdays of the month of Chaitra are famous for Shakti Puja in this Breast Shrine of Mata Sati. So, every year lakhs of devotees visit this shrine on these days.
It is worth mentioning that this year, particularly in the four auspicious Tuesdays around 12 lakh devotees have visited the Shrine. Besides this some 5 lakh devotees have visited the Hill Shrine on other days of the month. Amongst them around 13 lakh visitors were from Orissa, while a staggering 4 lakh visitors were from other states like Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and other States. However, this year the number of visitors from overseas has gone down compared to previous years. This time around close to a thousand foreigners visited the Shrine during this month.
The figures available from various sources reveal that this year’s gathering has surpassed the records of earlier years and with more than 17 lakh visitors in just one month this holy Shrine has emerged as one of the most visited religious destinations of the State.
The Statistics:
First Tuesday of Chaitra total number of devotees visited, about: 1,90,000
Second Tuesday of Chaitra total number of devotees visited, about: 3,78,000
Third Tuesday of Chaitra total number of devotees visited, about: 4,85,000
Fourth Tuesday of Chaitra total number of devotees visited, about: 1,55,000
In other days of Chaitra, total number of devotees visited, around 5,00,000
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Total 17,08,000
Apart from this month, in the rest 11 months around 8,00,000 visitors are expected to visit this holy Shrine. So, the Tara Tarini development Board has anticipated that, this year the figure of the total number of visitors will go up to 25 lakhs.
The Statistics of Last 5 Years:
1. 2004---12,00,000
2. 2005---13,78,000
3. 2006---15,07,000
4. 2007---16,70,000
5. 2008---19,40,000
Sensing this rapid growth of visitors, the state administration in cooperation with the Ganjam district administration had created ‘Taratarini Development Board’ incorporating some of the eminent persons of Orissa and mainly from Southern Orissa, under the Chairmanship of the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC), Southern Orissa in 2002/03. Since then the Taratarini Development Board (TTDB) has started the overall development of the Taratarini Hill Shrine and its nearby areas. Over this period of time the Board has successfully completed the work of a stone temple on the Hilltop for the Twin Goddesses and has initiated the work of widening of the 999 sacred stone steps with rest sheds, widening of the roads leading to the Hilltop and providing drinking water facility on the hill top and has constructed the first Arial “Rope Way” of Eastern India for fastest communication of visitors.
To keep pace with ever growing number of visitors, the Board has approved a number of new projects. Some of the prioritized list of works proposed by the TTDB to be taken up in the first phase, on the hilltop of the Taratarini Hill Shrine for the convenience of devotees and tourists are…………
q Construction of administrative office on the hilltop.
q Construction of Bhog Bazaar on the hilltop.
q Construction of Mundan shade on the hilltop.
q Construction of a hospital.
q Construction of public utilities
q Construction of waiting hall for the Rope-way on the hilltop.
q Arrangement of space to accommodate the buildings for ATMs, Lockers, Shoe stands and other facilities.
q Further development of Arial Rope-way.
q Construction of Kalyana Mandapam.
q Construction of outer protection wall and River side retaining wall to check land sliding and soil erosion at the hilltop.
q Construction of huge parking space at the hilltop.
q Lighting arrangements at the hilltop and inside the Temple premises.
q Lighting arrangement on the 999 holy stone steps and road leading to the Hilltop from Taratarini junction.
q Widening of stone steps and arrangement of public utilities/ rest houses.
q Further widening of the existing road to the Hilltop.
q Maintenance of eco-system in and around the sacred hill by huge plantation in its nearby areas.