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Places
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Temples
in Goa
Shri
MahalaxmiThe
village of Bandode or Bandivade is the location of a number of temples among
which is the large and beautiful temple of Goddess Mahalaxmi. Bandode is
approximately 22 kms from the capital city of Panaji, off the main road to
Ponda, at Farmagudi.
The temple has been in existence since at
least the year 1413, when information about the rituals of the temple is
found on stone plaques carved during the reign of Nanjan Gosavi Pratihast
over Goa.
However, there was another temple of Mahalaxmi in the
fifteenth century in the town of Colva in Salcette. As is the case with most
Hindu deities in Goa, the idol of Mahalaxmi from this temple was also
smuggled away in the middle of the night to avoid persecution during the
Portuguese Inquisition era of the sixteenth century.
The two
devotees Safto and Fato, who took away the idol in a trunk and first took
her to the town of Talauli near Ponda. Till today, the people of this
village worship the sign of the feet of the goddess. The idol brought from
Colva was then taken to Bandode and installed along with the existing idol.
So
today there are two idols of Mahalaxmi in the temple premises, along with
other deities such as Shri Ravalnath, Shri Baleshwar, Shri Narayan Purush
and interestingly also idols of the two devotees i.e. Safto and Fato who
managed to save the Goddess from Colva.
The second Goddess
Mahalaxmi from Colva is taken out in a procession only once a year on the
auspicious day of Ramnavmi when she is taken around in a palakhi (palanquin)
and a chariot.
On the second day of this festival, both the idols
are taken out in one chariot to be paraded in a huge procession. The main
idol of the Goddess Mahalaxmi is also taken out during the festival of
Mahashivratri, on a chariot carried on the shoulders of devotees.
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