Legends tell that two brothers Nila and Shankar left Chota Nagpur amidst a family dispute went to pray at Puri. The Gajapati was impressed by them and asked them to stayback - Shankara refused to stay but Nila stayed back. The Gajapati gave him the estate of Nilgiri or Nilagada named thus after its new king Nila. This incident is traditionally dated to 1125.

Nilgiri is the third Srikshetra after Puri and Ranpur when Narayan Basant Birat Bhujang Mandhata(1521-1546) built the Jagannath Temple in Ni...