Shri
Devki-krishna Saunsthan Marcel Goa
This temple situated in the Antruz Mahal (Ponda Taluka) is the only temple of its kind in the world.. There are several temples in Marcel surrounding Shri Devkikrishna Temple., such as Shantadurga temples,Vithoba Temple, DurgadattaTemple etc. Shree Devkikrishna is the biggest among temples in Marcel and is constructed on an elevated place in the centre spot of Marcel. To Its right , temple of Bhoomika, Shri Panchista Devatas and Ravalnath (Pandavada) and to its left Shri Lakshmi Ravalnath (Gavanvada) and Shri Daadsaakhal are constructed. Temple of the mother and the son which makes this temple a unique one, has many legends attributable to it, and was constructed in 1817 AD.
Island of Chodan
All temples in Marcel are migrated from Chodan as mentioned by one portuguese officer by name Francisco pais in the year 1595 A.D. in his book Tomboda Jeha da Goa & das Terrasselecte & Bardez According to this book around the year 1540 AD., inter alia there were temples of Ganesha, Ravalnath, Mallinath, Bhagavati, Devkikrishna, Narayana, Mahadev, Chondeshwar and Daadsankhal at Chodan. All these temples migrated to Mayevada from Chodan which is also called Choodamani, Island.
In the year 1510 AD Ampus D Albuquerque bought the islands of Chodan, Divar and Juven from Adil Shah, King of Bijapur. Initially the Portuguese did not resort to converting Hindus. However in about after 20 years they intensively started converting Hindus to Christianity and started demolishing Hindu temples.
Hence Hindus migrated from these islands and shifted to Mayem \ Village and built temples for the deities brought with them. They Stayed in Mayem for a period of over 200 years and then shifted to Vargaon (Orgao) Marcel, belonging to the deity Shree Shantadurga Vargaonkarin.
Portuguese Invasion in Goa
Shri B.D Satoskar in his book wrote about the glory of Chodan — Choodamani Village. He stated that there were many temples in Chodan of which four are important and big in which,always festivities take place. Among the temples number one Devkikrishna, second Mahamaya Bhagavati temple and two Ravalnath temples are very popular. In the Village there were Brahminswith gotras Jamadagni, Bharadwaj, Atri, Kaushik and Koundinya etc. With Portuguese invasion in Goa. people migrated from Chodan and settled in Uttar Kannada, Dakshina kannada, Kerala and Maharashtra and also in different parts of India. At present several persons are working abroad also Now that we have discussed a little about the history of Goa, temples and migration of our Deities from Choodamani — Chodan, Mayevade and then to Marcel, we have to know about Shri Devki krishna. We worship our Kuladevatas Shri Ravalanath Pandavada and Shri Ravalnath Gavanwada, Mallinath and Daadsakhal.