• Jan 25 2016
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Puri

The history of the foundation of Nayagarh State in the thirteenth century is an important chapter in the political history of Odisha. Suryamani of Baghela dynasty came to Puri on a pilgrimage from "Rewa" of Madhya Pradesh and established his kingdom at Nayagarh. On the way to Puri, both Suryamani and his brother Chandramani took rest at night at Gunanati. The area was full of tigers and at night a tiger attacked him. Both the brothers fought the tiger and killed it. The local people praised the brave brothers and elected Suryamani as their leader. Suryamani gradually built his fort at Gunanati and married a Mali (a cast known as worshiper of Lord Shiv) girl. After the death of his first wife, he again married a Kshatriya girl. From there, he then attacked Haripur and Ralaba. While sleeping, a tiger attacked him at Ralaba; he again fought and killed it. At that moment, he saw a lady with an empty pot passed by to fetch water. Astonishingly, she returned with a little boy. Immediately, Suryamani obstructed the way of that lady and wanted to know about the mystery. The lady told she was Bouri Thakurani (a local worshiped goddess) and the tiger that the king killed was the boy. She advised Suryamani to kill her and worship her as his deity. From that date, Suryamani worshiped "Bauri Thakurani" at Ralaba and built his fort there and adopted Tiger Head as a state symbol.