Maa Dewri Temple

The Maa Dewri Temple lies in Diuri village near Tamar, Jharkhand, where the Munda and Bhumij tribes worshipped the goddess in a sacred grove known as Dewri Diri, the sacred stone of Diuri.

Tradition dates the stone temple to about 1300, when Kera, a king of Singhbhum, is said to have prayed here after losing a battle and, having regained his kingdom with the goddess's blessing, raised a shrine of interlocking stones without mortar and installed the sixteen-armed image of Maa Dewri.

The raja of Tamar later adopted her worship and brought a Brahmin priest, giving the temple its custom of six days of ritual led by the tribal Pahan and one day by a Brahmin Panda. Devotees tie red and yellow threads on bamboo for the fulfilment of vows, returning to untie them when their prayers are answered.