Odisha: Earlier we heard and read in the book that Mughal emperor Shah Jahan built Taj Mahal in Agra to fulfill his wife’s wish. But this is old history. An Assamese man has built a temple in his hometown at a cost of Rs 7 crore to fulfill his wife’s wish. Through this, the long-time dream of his wife has come true. A builder who is a resident of Hyderabad has built a temple of Goddess Ma Santoshi at a cost of crores of rupees in Chicana village of Bhingarpur district of Odisha.
62-year-old industrialist Khetrabashi Lenka is the man who built the temple for his wife. He lives in Hyderabad with his wife Baijayanti Lenka (56). Baijayanti has been a devotee of Ma Santoshi Devi since childhood. So she has requested her husband to build a temple of the goddess in her hometown Chikna village. Khetrabashi has now fulfilled his wife’s wish by building a temple at a cost of 7 crores.
Construction work started in 2008 itself
To fulfill his wife’s wish, Lenka started the construction of a temple in 2008 in Chicana village. The construction of that temple has been completed recently. Mata Santoshi Temple is built in South Indian style. It is known that the sculptors from Chennai built this temple. Along with Goddess Santoshi, Shiva, Ganesha, Hanuman and Navagrahas are installed in this temple and special pooja can be offered.
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A dream of worshiping a goddess in the village
“My wife has been a devotee of Maa Santhoshi since childhood. She had a dream to worship the Goddess in her village temple. So I built this temple on 1.5 acres in my mother-in-law’s village. The construction started in 2008 and was completed recently,” Khetrabasi said.
Encouraging children to build a temple
As desired by Baijayanti, the temple was built in the South Indian style of architecture. “Baijayanti herself stayed in the village and oversaw the construction of the temple. Besides Goddess Santoshi, Shiva, Ganesha, Hanuman and Navagraha are also worshiped in the temple. My son is a software engineer and daughter is a doctor. Both our children encouraged me to spend the money to build the temple as per their mother’s wish,” said Khetrabasi. .
Wife is thankful for fulfilling her dream
Khetrabasi’s wife expressed her happiness as Santoshi Devi’s temple was built in Chikana village. “I am grateful to my husband who has built a temple in my town as per my wish. I want the idol of the goddess installed in this temple to be worshiped not only in the village but also in the whole country and get the blessings of Santoshi Mata,” said Baijayanti.
As there are many temples in cities and towns, I wanted to build a temple in the village. I am thankful to my husband who made my dream come true. We wanted to build a small temple. But, with the blessings of the Goddess, such a beautiful temple has been built in our village. Baijayanti expressed happiness that finally my dream has come true.