The Chhinnamasta idol at Bakhrabad, a must-see among the 67 Kali mandaps in Cuttack.

On the night of Kali Puja, and till immersion time, Bakhrabad, the otherwise sleepy part of the town, plays host to thousands who throng for a glimpse of the splendid and rather alarming goddess, complete with her severed head and three jets of blood spurting out of her neck. One streams into her mouth and the other two into the mouths of her two consorts.

The left leg of the goddess rests not on Shiv as is the tradition but over a couple embracing each other on a lotus.

“We have been worshipping this form of the goddess for more than 60 years. Nothing has changed,” said Gopal Pal, president of Bakhrabad Puja Committee.

What stands out at the mandap is iconographic setting — the gruesome decapitation, the tenderness of the couple embracing each other and the drinking of blood, all arranged in a harmonious pattern. “The idea is to depict life, death and sustenance as interdependent patterns of life,” said a committee member.

Chhinnamasta , a self-devouring goddess, depicts regeneration. “The common interpretation is that the goddess signifies self-control, courage and discernment,” he added. (Badrika Nath Das)

The worship of Chinnamasta was introduced in the city by Rama Dalei, Mukunda Behera and Bharat Singh in Fifties. “We don’t know the exact antecedents, but we fear that a deviation may bring bad luck. So, we have made no change in the tradition,” said Rama Ballav Dwivedi, the committee secretary.

Chinnamasta is one of the ten Mahavidyas or wisdom goddesses. In tantric tradition the spectrum of the ten forms of the goddess includes Kali, Tara, Tripura, Sundari, Bhubaneswari, Chinnamasta, Bhairavi, Dhumavati, Bagalamukhi, Matangi, Kamalatmika, each manifested form represents an essential truth.