Vijayadurga Temple

Getting there

• By air

  All flights to and from Goa use Goa Airport at Dabolim. The Indian Navy owns the airport, which is about 30 km from Panaji.

• By train

  Goa has two major railway stations, Margao and Vasco-da-Gama, both in the southern part of the state. Konkan Railway also provides services to Ponda, as well as Margao and Carambolim.

• By road

  National Highways NH4A, NH17 and NH17A link Goa to major Indian towns. Buses run from the Kadamba bus stand at Panaji.

Why devotees come here

Shri Vijayadurga Temple stands in Keri, near Ponda in Goa. Many local Brahmin families worship Devi Vijaya Durga as their family deity. Her name comes from a legend about defeating demons at Sancoale.

Legend says Devi once intervened in a battle between Shiva and Vishnu. She then went to Shankwali to destroy the demons who were troubling the Brahmins there. After she destroyed the demons at Sancoale, she was called Vijaya, and the name became Vijayadurga.

The temple first stood near the Shantadurga and Lakshminarsimha shrines at Sancoale. It later moved to Keri in Ponda taluka. The Narcinva and Shantadurga temples were burnt on 15 March 1567, and this temple suffered the same fate days later.

Today many local families see her as their own deity. Karhade Brahmins offer their prayers only to Vijayadurga, and not to Shantadurga or Lakshmi Narasimha. Bhat, Kamat, Prabhu, Shenoy and Shenvi families worship both Shantadurga and Vijayadurga as their kuldevta.

Tips for your visit

• Ponda is about 28 km southeast of Panaji and 17 km northeast of Margao.
• Sancoale is where the legend's demons were defeated, and where the temple once stood before it moved to Keri.

Questions people ask