In the river bank of Renuka, in a hillock called Ruchika Giri, is found the seat of Maa Charchika, the adorable goddess of Banki.
It is one of the oldest Shakti places of the State, located in the heart of Banki town of Cuttack district. Here the goddess is an eight-armed Devi who displays Khadga, Shula, Katariand , Varadamudra in her four right hands. In the four left hands are seen a severed head, blood cup and a damaru. She is the deity of peace and bliss whose great rituals include Pana Sankranti, Basanti Durga Puja, Sodasha Puja during Dussehra, Kumari Vesha on Kumarpurnima, Biswashanti Maha Yajna during Panchaka in the holy Odia month of Kartik where thousands of devotees throng the shrine to have darshan.
The main temple of the deity was built way back in the tenth century AD during Bhoumakara rule in Odisha. As per the legend, Saint Jamadagni when asked his son Mahavir Parshuram to behead his mother Renuka, he did it spontaneously. But later, when he repented over the matter, he sat in meditation on the Ruchika hill here after portraying the idol of Chamunda (Charchika) on whose lap Mahakala (Shiva) slept to get rid of the sin of matricide. When he succeeded in getting the blessings of the portrait goddess here, he drew the water path from nearby river Mahanadi in his arrow point on the feet way of the Ruchika hill and named it Renuka river in memory of his mother. When this news spread over the nearby areas, the then king of Banki Gada built a temple for the deity and people started worshipping.
In style, it is a brick temple and its surfaces are thickly lime plastered and white washed. In both sides of Mukhasala there are carved Durga idols. On its lower top, we find the idols of Ganesh , lakshmi, and Saraswati. On the top, there are the statues of Kali, Tara, Sodashi, Bhubaneswari, Bhairavi, Chhinnamasta, Dhumabati,Bagala, Matangi and Kamala. The left, back and right sides of the temple are decorated with Uttarachandi, Paschima Chandi and Dakshina Chandi idols.
Meantime, temples of Shiva, Mangala and Jagannath have been developed in the shrine. Several Mandaps also have been developed. Devotees perform solemnly vows by binding red tapes in the branches of wood apple (bilwa) tree erected in the premises of the shrine.
Banki MlA Pravat Tripathy said over Rs 1crore had been funded by the Tourism Department to the temple for different developmental works in different phases. Similarly over Rs10 lakh was funded from his MlA lAD for fencing, flood lighting and other developmental works. The Managing Trustee of the temple wishes to decorate the deity with unique Kumari Vesha this year on the day of Kumarpurnima to mark the beginning of Banki Mahotsav.
