Ghatagaon maa tarini is one of the sacred places of orissa. Thousands of devotees reached ghatagaon for getting the bless of maa tarini.Ghatagaon is very well known place belongs to keonjhar district. It is surrounded by natural beauties. Lots of trees covered these areas. This is very dense forest area. Devotees worshipped coconut in maa tarini temple every day. Thousands of coconut reached every day in maa tarini temple send by her devotees across Orissa and some neighbor states also.Another two great water falls are just closed to ghatagaon named bada ghagara and sana ghagara. These are most attracting place of Orissa.


Journey of Maa from Kanchi to Kalinga
The journey started towards Kanchi (Vijayanagar) with Govinda Bhanjha as Senapati (Commander-in-chief). Suddenly in the forest of Vijayanagar the horse of Govinda Bhanjha refused to move further. This created curiosity in mind of Govinda Bhanjha.
He started enquiring among the tribes and was revealed that after Goddess Sita was kidnapped by demon Ravana, Lord  Rama & his younger brother Lord  Lakshmana started searching her. They searched in different parts of the forest. But they were not able to find Sita. Finally Lord Rama thought to worship goddess Durga in order to get the solution. He worshipped her & Goddess Durga appeared before him. The goddess told Rama not to see her, otherwise she would become stone there. But Lord Rama was not able to control himself & saw her when she appeared before him. So the goddess became stone there. Then goddess told Lord Rama not to worry, she will appear & help him when he will remember her in mind. Then Lord Rama worshipped her there. The goddess remained there in the name of ‘Tarini’.
In the forest Lord Rama only found some tribes, so he gave the responsibility of the worship of the goddess to those tribes. From that day onwards, Maa Tarini is worshipped by the Tribal people. that Maa Tarini is being worshipped there and without her acknowledgment no one can defeat King Kanchi. The famous war began and it was a very fierce battle among the Kanchi n Kalinga. God supported both sides. King Kanchi was supported by Lord Ganesha n King Purusottam Dev was by Lord Jaganth. But as we all know everything happens according to the almighty. We can never know why, how, who won n who lost. Maybe this is Maa ‘s desire to come to Kheojhar by this way. King Purusottam Dev won the war and Princess Padmavati came with King Purusottam Dev. King wanted to bring Maa along with Lord Madammohan , Raghunathjew to Puri. They prayed them to bring them. Thus they came to Kalinga or Orissa .
Journey of Maa from Puri to Ghatagoan(Kheojhar)
At that year King Trilochona Bhanja (King of Khedhujhar) died and Govinda Bhanja had to return to his kingdom. King Purusottam Dev wanted to give Govinda Bhanja something as he had helped him to avenge his insult and Princess Padvati to his kingdom. Govinda Bhanja wanted only one thing for himself .He wanted to bring Maa to his kingdom. King Purusottam Dev agreed to this and asked him to ask Maa’s permission. Govinda Bhanja prayed MAA and MAA agreed with one condition. Maa said she will go with him as long as Govinda Bhanja doesn’t look back to see Maa. With this Condition Maa went with Govinda Bhanjha to Kendujhar(kheojhar). From Puri to Khedujhar Maa horse hoof sounds were audible. On the outskirts of Khedujhar lies river Baitarini. On the forest of Kheojhar Maa’s horse hoofs was not audible to Govinda Bhanja. He got scared that Maa stayed behind and he turned to look back to see. There n then Maa turned into stone. Govinda Bhanjha prayed Maa for forgiveness but Maa said she has made the condition with him before coming. And she will stay in the wild jungle and asked Govinda Bhanjha to worship in that place. Till today Maa Tarini is being worshipped in Ghatagaon, Kheojhar. Which is now a major tourist attraction in Kheojhar (Orissa).