JAJPUR: Lord Narayan Gosain, a popular deity in and around Jajpur district, remains immersed in a pond for the past 444 years. He appears only to give audience to public for three days in a year. The deity is worshipped with religious fervour during the three days in a remote Singhapur village under Rasulpur block of the district. The annual ritual called ‘Singhapur Yatra’ - begins on Friday - is witnessed by a large number of devotees.Lord Narayan Gosain appears on ‘Mahabisubha Sankranti’, better known as ‘Pana Sankranti’ and is immersed in the pond, adjacent to the temple on the fourth day, where he resides for the rest of the year. Lakhs of devotees across the State throng Singhapur during the three days and offer prayers to their Lord at the sacred place, called ‘Madhutirtha Khetra’.Legend has it that a bigoted Muslim, Kalapahada, invaded Utkal during the reign of Mukunda Dev and left behind a trail of demolished temples, shrines and idols in 1568 AD. After unleashing a reign of terror in Shreekshetra at Puri, he arrived at Jajpur, the nation’s most ancient Shakti Peetha. In order to protect the idol of Lord Narayan Gosain from the Muslim invader, the then Madhupurgarh king hid the Lord’s idol in a tank in Singhapur. A few days later, the King had a dream wherein the Lord asked him to take out the idol from the water and worship it.Since then, the idol is taken out of Singhapur pond on the ‘Pana Sankranti’.“Every year Singhapur yatra is celebrated with much fanfare in our villages. Locals turn vegetarian and non-veg food is a taboo during the yatra.,” said Prafulla Chandra Satpathy, a resident of Singhapur.According to the tradition, first the king of Madhupurgarh (kingdom) comes and performs puja on the bank of the pond as Narayan Gosain is the presiding deity of the royal family.After the puja, devotees take part in the ceremony. Following which the idol is taken out of the water and worshipped, said Antaryami Rout, secretary of the puja committee.
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