Upper Bagh Devi Temple

Overview : Upper Bagh Devi Temple is Goddess Bagh Devi temple located at Kulada, Ganjam District in the state of Orissa in India. It is about 8 km from Bhanjanagar, 102 km from Chhatrapur and 140 km from Bhubaneswar. Nearby railway station is at Berhampur which is 88 km away. It can be reached by climbing 210 steps. An additional shrine of Goddess Bagh Devi has been built at the foot of the hill. Lord Jagannath temple, Mausimaa Temple, and Ratneswar Mahadev temple are nearby worship places. Legend/Story : According to popular myths, there were three sisters Bada Raula, Upper Bagh Devi and Bagh Devi. They had constant arguments over coconuts. They decided to split the region into three parts, one for each sister. For this they threw three lottas (containers used to drink water) to help them decide.First one fell in a region where the Bada Raula is currently said to be residing,other fell in the region where the present Upper Bagh Devi temple is while the third one fell into a pond where an underground temple was built.Later, Kavi Samrat Upendra Bhanja, was instructed in a dream to build temples at these three places. He did so except the one for Bada Raula which due to lack of accessibility to the region still hasn't been built.Sankranti day of every month is celebrated in the temple.Thakurani Yatra is celebrated every three years, while Rathyatra is also held in grand manner.