Dhori Mata Tirthalaya

Dhori Mata Tirthalaya, the shrine of the Miraculous Mother of the Coal Mines, serves Roman Catholics at Jarangdih in Bokaro, Jharkhand. Its statue, showing the Virgin Mary holding the Baby Jesus, was found by accident on 12 June 1956 by Rupa Satnami, a worker from Bilaspur digging coal, who is said to have heard a voice in Hindi telling him to strike gently. His pickaxe had already broken off one of the arms.

The statue moved to St. Anthony's Church in 1957 and to its present site in 1964, the same year Pope Paul VI blessed it in Mumbai. Tests in Belgium in 1967 showed it to be jackfruit wood, about 400 to 500 years old. The shrine was formally inaugurated on 30 October 1983 and has many paintings of Christ and decorative lamps. Crowds attend a nine-day festival each year, ending on the last Sunday of October with Missa Puja.