During my several official trips to Kolkata between 1986 and
2001; I have been to Kalighat Kali Temple a number of times. My first visit to
Kolkata was in May 1986 to commission the ‘Praga-Mitsubishi CNC Machining Center’
manufactured by our Company (Praga Tools Limited) at New Allenberry Works,
Hazra Road. And this was followed by very frequent visits for commissioning or
servicing of CNC Machines supplied by us to Rifle Factory Ishapore, Ordnance
Factory - Dumdum, Gun and Shell Factory-Cossipore, Paharpur Cooling Towers
Limited-Alipore, Premium Transmission Limited-Falta and also to New Allenberry
Works. Our very friendly Regional Sales Office was at No.4 Fairlie Place.
Sometimes it used to be more than six trips in a year to Kolkata. During most
of my trips, I stayed in South Kolkata where there are a number of good South
Indian Hotels. And Kalighat Temple being in the same area, it was very
convenient to visit the Temple.
After a gap of 14 years, I have gone to Kolkata again and this
time with my wife on vacation and I made it a point to visit Kalighat Kali
Temple along with her. The attached photographs are of us at the Temple. And
towards the end of this article, I have
provided a very nice Video of the Goddess – an Arati Video, which I am sure you
would like.
For those of you who have no idea of this popular Temple, here
is a brief introduction. First and foremost Calcutta or Kolkata City has got
its name from this Kali Temple. An old course of Hooghly River (Bhagirathi) was
passing by the side of this Kali Temple and hence the landing stage along this
River and this area came to be known as Kalighat and the Temple as Kalighat
Kali Temple. And the City that came up around it came to be called
Kolkata/Calcutta. The Temple is now on the banks of a small canal called Adi
Ganga. Kalighat is regarded as one of the 51 Shakti Peetas where various parts
of Sati’s body have fallen. Sati is the daughter of King Daksha Prajaapati and
the wife of Lord Shiva. She is also known as Dakshayani. Sati married Lord
Shiva against the wishes of her father. Daksha Prajaapati then performed a
great Yagna with the sole aim of insulting Lord Shiva. He invited all the Gods
and Goddesses except his son-in-law, Lord Shiva. Against Lord Shiva’s wishes,
Sati attended her father’s Yagna, where she was insulted by her father. Unable
to bear the insult, Sati walked into the Yagna Homa to immolate herself and
died. Enraged and grieved Lord Shiva destroyed Daksha’s Yagna and he cut off
Daksha’s head and replaced it with that of a goat as he restored his life.
Still angry with grief at his wife’s death, he picked up the remains of Sati’s
body and danced the dance of destruction throughout the universe. The other
Gods intervened to stop his dance but in vain. Then Lord Vishnu used his disc
(Vishnu Chakra) to cut through the corpse of Sati. Various parts of her body
fell at several spots in our country. These places are called Shakti Peetas and
here Sati is worshipped as kali Mata (Mother). Kalighat represents the site
where the toes of the right foot of Sati fell. Legend is that a devotee
discovered a luminous ray of light emanating from the Bhagirathi River bed, and
upon investigating its source he came upon a piece of stone in the form of a
human toe. He also found a Swayambhu Lingam of Nakuleshwar Bhairav and started
worshipping Kali here.
The origins of the Temple are chronicled in various scriptures
dating back from the 15th century. The original Temple is said to be in a hut
and then in the 16th century, King Manasingha built a small Temple. The present
Temple was built in 1809 under the patronage of Sabarna Roy Chowdhury family of
Banisha and they became the owners of the Temple. However, the Haldar family
claimed to be the original owners of the Temple property and this was disputed
by the Chowdhurys of Banisha. It was only in the 1960s that a committee was formed for
the administrative management of the Temple with representation from the State
Government and the Haldar family.
The Temple is visited by pilgrims in thousands every day from all over the country and abroad. They worship Kali as a mother and as a powerful goddess, bringing to her their domestic problems and pray for good health and prosperity. And when their prayers are fulfilled they visit again to express their gratitude.
I went there only once and was frantically looking for a nice angle to get a nice picture of the temple from outside. So many shops have come up.
ReplyDeleteYes, we too faced the same problem. We somehow managed to click these photographs with partial views of the Temple.
DeleteVery good information, sir.
ReplyDeleteI too visited this temple during official visit to Calcutta for same purpose like you. But there was no control of brokers who forcibly loot the people