The Vishwabrahmin community on February 21 organised a ritual worship and took out a huge procession in memory of the great Satis who had sacrificed their lives in the funeral pyre of their husbands to prove their chastity. The community established stone sculptures of the legendary women on the Sati river at Sitalagudi a decade ago. The place since then has been recognized as Sati peeth.
Tribute to the great Satis (widows), who immolated themselves in the funeral of their late husbands, about two hundred years ago. The Viswabrahmins came to Jeypore in the past either in search of a job or to eke out their livelihood. Many of them were invited by the then Solar dynasty rulers to get their services. The kings had given them lands and houses in the Hemogiri street of Jeypore.
After Nandapur, Jeypore was the ancient capital kingdom of the kings of the Solar dynasty, who ruled over the kingdom for more than five centuries. The original inhabitants of the region are all tribals and Banabasis. During the rule of the kings, specific professional families and workers settled here either to earn a living or were invited by the kings to offer their valuable services. Viswabrahmins or Dhiman Brahmins is a term used in India for a caste of priests, engineers, architects, temple builders and artists who are claimed to be the descendants of lord Visvakarma. It is a culturally structured phenomenon in India that the work of five craftsmen is a must to complete a Navanirman (new construction). These inevitable workers are the carpenters, the blacksmiths, the brass smiths, the sculptors and the goldsmiths, which are the sub-caste of the Dhiman Brahmins.
Jeypore’s history speaks of three women of the Viswabrahmin community, who had immolated themselves in the funeral of their husbands. Stone sculptures in their memory were earlier found near Chandanbad area of Jeypore which later merged under the expansion of the roads and buildings in the city. Every year, their community members used to offer bangles and vermilion at the Samadhi and pray during the Makar Sankranti. Even before solemnising a marriage or thread ceremony, ritual prayers and offers at the Samadhis are treated as sacred.