Eram (Raktatirtha)

ChandaneThis famous place of sacrifice located at 16 km away from Basudebpur of Bhadrak district. One side of this land is bounded by the Bay of Bengal and the other three sides are surrounded by two rivers the Gameye and Kansabansa. Secured by these natural boundaries this place is used as a citadel by the freedom fighters. Due to these natural boundaries it is not so easy for the police and the administrative persons to enter in to this place. More over there is an open field bounded by three sides with one gate in its north east direction, which was used by the freedom fighters as a place of public meeting. Starting from 1920 prominent nationalist leaders of ODISHA like Utkalmani Gopabandhu Das and Utkal Kesari Dr. H.K. Mahatab perform public meetings at that place for several times to propagate the Gandhian ideals of freedom struggle. The Unpleasant Incident During the time of Quit India Movement this field of Eram was frequently used by the freedom fighters for public meeting and agitation against foreign rulers. On 28th September 1942 there was a huge gathering at that place. Afraid by this gathering a police force from Basudebpur police station, lead by DSP Kunjabihari Mohanty march towards Eram. As like Jaliyanawalawag here DSP Kunjabihari Mohanty acted as General Dayar and opened fire to the huge gathering at 6.30 pm, who were performing the agitation against the foreign rulers in a peaceful way. Since the field was bounded from three sides therefore no one able to get escape as of the field and within some minutes 28 persons get dead on the spot and 56 get injured, another person among the injured get dead later on. Among the dead include one woman named Pari Bewa, who is regarded as the only lady martyrs of ODISHA. Here the situation is very much similar to that of Jaliyanawalawag and the numbers of martyrs were also just second to jaliyanawalawag. Therefore Eram which is popularly known as Rakta Tirtha (The Pilgrim of Blood) after this unpleasant incident was truly designated as the Second Jaliyanawalawag of India.swar is an acclaimed religious and cultural site of North Odisha which is famous for Lord Shiva temple. Chadak Mela is an important festival of this holy shrine. During Chadak Mela(month of April) and Shivarati lakhs of pilgrims, devotees of Odisha , West Bengal, Bihar and other places of India visit place to pay obeisance to Lord Chandaneswar.