Shri Ramnath Panchista
Shree Shanteri
In South Goa, in the idyllic surrounding of Rivona, live the Dravid Brahmins named Bakhle, Totekar, Karde and so on.
In ancient times they worshipped their goddess Shree Shanteri in their green and beautiful village. One night one of these Brahmins had a dream in which the Goddess asked to be taken to Lotli and worshipped near Shri Ramnath. Needless to say the Lotlikars were overjoyed to welcome the Goddess to their Village. The Murti in the form of Shree Mahishasurmardini was installed with appropriate Vedic rites in a temple in Lotli.
To this day, at the time of Kaul Prasad, any member of the original Dravid Brahmin families being present in the Shree Shanteri temple is given priority.
The beautiful idol of Shree Shanteri has her right index finger pointing towards the right. The Mahajans of Shri Ramnath take it to say “Pray first to Shri Ramnath and then come to me”. This idol is silver and in 1979 it was proposed to cover it with gold plate. When asked through Prasad for the permission to do so, Shree Shanteri indicated that Shri Rammath should be asked for the permission, just like the pose of the idol seems to say. Of course Shri Ramnath gave a favourable Prasad and the task was completed.
In the form of Shree Shanteri, the goddess represents Mother Earth. Нет fertility, Her bountifulness and Her providing us with food, shelter and everything else.
As Shree Shantadurga, She is the peaceful form of Ma Durga who mediated between Shree Vishnu and Shree Mahadev to bring peace to the world. Shri
Narayan Bhaskar Nayak mentions in his book that the Temple of Shree Shanteri was to the left of the Shri Ramnath Temple in Lotli.
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