Maa Taratarini temple is placed at the hill top of Kumari hills at Ganjam district of Odisha. It is positioned along the banks of river Rushikulya. It is one of the four ancient Shakti Pithas in India. As the temple is located in the hill top there is 999 steps which lead to temple or the roads which can also lead to this temple. The deities Maa Tara and Maa Tareni looks like they are human beings decorated with gold ornaments and flowers.
The origin of Shakti Pithas of Maa Taratarini temple is dated a way back. It is belief that the father of Goddess Sati perform a yagna in which he does not call his daughter Goddess Sati and Lord Shiva. On knowing about the yagna his daughter query his father about not inviting them to this Yagna. On querying his father used harsh words to curse Lord Shiva as a result Goddess Sati who is wife of Lord Shiva jumped to the Yagna fire and died. After knowing about the death Lord Shiva started doing Tandap Dance to destroy the universe. To stop Lord Shiva from destroying the earth Lord Vishnu, Lord Brahma and Lord Sani enter the corpse of Goddess Sati and started chopping into differentparts. The parts of body started fall all over the world and the breast part of Goddess Sati fell on Kumari hills and Shakti Pitha originated in the hill by name of Maa Taratareni temple.
Maa taratarini temple is located at hill top of Kumari hill. As it is situated on the hill top the scenic beauty of the surroundings can be seen from the hill top. To go to the top of hill steps roadways are made. But the most attractive way is the rope way. Rope way will take you to the hill top and on the way you can witness great scenes from the rope way which make tourist speechless. Many lodges and hotels are located near the temple to accommodate tourist.
By Road: It is well connected by road to all major cities of Odisha.
By Rail: Nearest railway stations are Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.
By Air: Nearest airport is Bhubaneswar airport.
