About River Prachi (ପ୍ରାଚୀ ନଦୀ)
The River Prachi is also known as Prachi Nadi (ପ୍ରାଚୀ ନଦୀ) in Kakatpur, Puri district situated in the state of Odisha. It is said that River Prachi is more than 100 years old than River Ganga.
The Story Behind Parchi River and Maa Mangala:
There is an age old belief that Goddess Managla has kept herself hidden under the deep waters of River Prachi. The story dates back to more than 500 years ago when a boatman was sailing his boat on the Prachi River.
The River was facing a torrent of massive flood which prevented him from sailing across the river. The boatman in fright struggled for the whole night to bring down the sail till morning. Just before the dawn, Goddess Mangala appeared in his dream & asked him to recover her from the waters and also to set up her idol in a nearby village, named as Mangalapur. Accordingly the boatman plunged into the river & discovered the deity from the riverbed and established the same at the Mangalpur premises. The same day, to his astonishment, a black crow submerged into the waters and did not appear for hours & days. The boatman observed that it was exactly the same place the crow was detained where he recovered the diety of Goddess Mangala.
The crow in “Oriya” language is named as Kaka while detained means “Atka”. Used as a combination, from then onwards, the whole village came to be termed as “Kataka”(Kaka-Atka) while the Goddess is known as Kakatpur Mangala. It is said that the entire village was built about 500 years ago by the local Jamindar, Roychudamoni family at Kakatpur along with Sebak arrangement. In 1548 AD, the Mandir was built by a member from Roychudamoni family, named as Panchanan Mitra. The Goddess is known as the diety of peace, happiness, power, love, purity, knowledge & truth.
Story behind River Prachi and Lord Jagannath Temple:
At Kakatpur, “DEULI MATHA” is a very spiritual place. The devotees are come to Deuli matha and pray to goddess “MANGALA” with honesty for the very special festival ‘NAVAKALEBARA’ of Lord “JAGANNATH” and the Maa Mangala show up them to go for the Wooden (DARU). The DEULI MATHA is placed on the bank of the divine river “PRACHI” (ପ୍ରାଚୀ ନଦୀ). Also it is placed 2km distance from kaktpur and nearby Bajapur. In Deuli Matha consists of the Temple Pidha Viman and Jagamohana (Idols of lalatabimba, Brahma and Kali). Deuli Matha is under the Mahanta Abadhuta Aditya Charana Das. The Deuli Matha cover up with many depositions or samadhi of the previous Mahanta’s.