In Odisha, India, Charchika Temple is one of the oldest Shakti shrines. It’s in the little town of Banki in the Cuttack district of Odisha.
Chamunda, the eight-armed goddess, is the presiding deity, commonly known as Maa Charchika Devi.
She wears a garland of human skulls and sits atop a prostrate human body.
With her four right hands, she depicts Khadga, Shula, Katari, and Varadamudra, whereas, in her four left hands, she depicts a severed head, blood-cup, “damru,” and a finger of the remaining hand saturated in blood.
This temple is located on top of Ruchika Parvata, a small mountain on the banks of the Renuka river in the small town of Banki in Odisha’s Cuttack district.
History :The current temple was built in the nineteenth century. The enshrining god Maa Charchika, however, can be dated to the 9th – 10th century A.D., i.e. the Bhaumakara dynasty in Odisha, from an iconographic standpoint.
Parashurama is thought to have built the Charchika idol. A pidha vimana, jagamohana, and a wooden mandapa called as “sunyavahini mandapa” of the poor Kalingan order can be found in the temple.