Kalighat Kali temple Kolkata

Kalighat Kali temple  Kolkata

Kalighat Kali temple, Located on the banks of river Hooghly is a very famous temple of the city Kolakata, West Bengal . It is Temple of Goddess kali, which is supposed to be the destroyer as well as liberator. Increasing here more and more Crowds  year by  year. Intact,Kolakata Kalighat Kali temple has come in the top list of must see tourist attraction places. For Hindus, Kali temple at Kalighat, Kolkata is one of the most holy pilgrimage destinations.There is an interesting legend behind the formation of Kali temple, which suggests that when Lord Shiva was energetically performing his dance (Pralay), keeping the corpse of Goddess kali on his shoulders,his spinning wheel sliced off her dead body. Her body slices fell off at different points, where pilgrimage centers were formed later on. Kalighat temple is one such pilgrimage spot, where a toe of her right foot had fallen. It is during the months of Bhadra, Paush and Chaitra (according to the Bengali calendar) that Kali temple at Kalighat turns into a junction point for devotees from allover the world.

Kalighat is regarded as one of the 52 Shakti Peethams of India, where the various parts of Sati’s body are said to have fallen, in the course of Shiva’s Rudra Tandava. Kalighat represents the site where the toes of the right foot of Shakti or Sati fell. (see Daksha Yagna).

Legend is that a devotee discovered a luminant ray of light coming from the Bhagirathi river bed, and upon investigating its source came upon a piece of stone carved in the form of a human toe. He also found a Syayambhu Lingam of Nakuleshwar Bhairav nearby, and started worshipping Kaali in the midst of a thick jungle. This shrine grew to its present form over a period of time, thanks in particular to the Sabarna Roy Chowdhury family of Bengal. This family is also said to have built the Chitreswari Kaali temple at Chitpur. It is believed that there was a pathway through the jungle between Chitpur and Kalighat, and this pathway is said to have become the Chitpur road of Calcutta.Kalighat is also associated with the worship offered to Kaali by a Dasanami Monk by name Chowranga Giri, and the Chowringee area of Calcutta is said to have been named after him. The Dakshineswar  Kaali temple across from the river, near Belur Math, bears an image of Kaali worshipped by the spiritual leader , Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, guru of Swami Vivekananda.

The original temple was a small hut , small temple was constructed by King Manasingha in the early Sixteenth century. The present temple was Reconstructed under the patron ship  of the Sabarna Roy Chowdhury family of Barisha. It was completed in 1809. The Haldar family is the original owners of the temple property. But this was disputed by the Chowdhrys of Barisha. In the nineteen sixties a committee was formed for the administrative management of the temple with representation from the Government and the Haldar family. The responsibility of conducting the worship rests with the Haldars and their heirs, generally known as shebaits.