On Durga Maa left- Maa Laxmi ( Goddess of wealth), on Right ( Maa Saraswati- Goddess of knowledge), Down with elephant face- Lord Ganesha ( Lord of Knowledge), Extreme right- Lord Kartika( Both are sons of Lord Siva), Down Mahisasura- The devil is destroyed by Mother God for the benefit of people in this earth.

Silver Filigree and Silver pandals of Cuttack

Cuttack has always been recognized for its fine silver filigree works. History says that during the Aurangzeb period, businessman from Middle East had encouraged the artisans of Cuttack to take up filigree art way back in the15th century. Local artisans picked up the art form and started specializing in silver filigree while the marketing was done by Gujrati businessman in the state. Prominent social reformer Sri Madhusudan Das finding that the local artisans were being exploited by the businessman, brought a ray of hope for the artisans by forming the local Kalinga filigree co-operative society.

In order to give the filigree work of Cuttack a new orientation, the first silver pandal was made with 250 kgs of pure silver was put up at the Choudhury Bazaar puja pandal in 1956. In 1975 the organizers went on to make the throne of the Mother with silver. The silver pandals created such ripples that many other puja committee decided to copy the idea. The second silver pandal was created at the Sheikh Bazaar pandal in 1991 weighing almost 400 kilogram. The third was at Alisha Bazaar followed by Balu Bazaar. At present there are 13 pandals in Cuttack city.