Rayagada

Rayagada is a city in Orissa state of eastern India. It is the headquarters of Rayagada District.

Rayagada as a place flourished due to the existence of Jeypore Sugar Factory and the Metal and Ferro Alloys company. The Jeypore Sugar Company(JEYSUCO) also has an distillary attached. Various grades of sugar are made here. However this company had to close down during the late nineties.

The Metal and Ferro Alloys continues its production.

Being a border state of Orissa, near to Vizianagaram and vishakhapatnam of Andhra Pradesh, there is a mix of telugu and oriya speaking population here. Majority of the population from adjacent Andhra pradesh moved to rayagada during the sixties when the JEYSUCO came up and have established here. Once Rayagada became the district HQ (it was Earlier a part of undivided Koraput District), the percentage of oriya population began to raise. Berhampuri - a dialect of oriya can also be heard in this region.

The presiding deity of the Place is MAA MAJHI GOWRI. Annual festivals of the deity are conducted across the town. The temple of the deity attracts heavy crowd especially during sundays. Offerings of hair and hen can be observed.

When the local railways were finding it hard to lay a permanent bridge in the region , it is said that that deity - Maa Majhi Gowri had instructed one of the devotees to construct the bridge where she had her trishul is installed. The bridge so laid passes right in front of the temple and has stood so for decades.

A section of the Society comprises of tribals.

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