My Journey to Religious Places: Dakshineshwar Kali Mandir, Kolkata !

A Panoramic View of Dakshineshwar Kali Temple and Bathing Ghat from Hooghly River

The Dakshineshwar Kali temple, Kolkata is on the banks of Hoogli River near the Vivekanand Setu. It was the first week of January when we planned to visit here from our hotel at Karunamoyee, Salt Lake area. Our hired taxi dropped us about 400 meters away from the temple at one end of a street which is its approach from the east. There are flower shops and Puja items related shops in this street. After walking through the street we reached the parking place and after that another building having flowers and puja related shops. We bought our flowers and proceeded to the temple. The temple was a high-security zone and the number of devotees in the line was more than 150. It took about half an hour to enter the courtyard of the Dakshineshwar Temple. The courtyard was big and the temple was high with nine aspiring pinnacles. We had entered from the back of the temple that is from North. We saw three lines of devotees and queued in the very first which had fewer devotees. Later we knew the reason of fewer devotees in our line when reached near the idol of Dakshineshwar Kali. In fact, two lines were for Darshan of Devi from sides while one line was for front Darshan. My mother was not satisfied with side Darshan so she again stood behind the line in front Darshan. We, the other family members ran out of patience for standing second time in the queue. So we went to the Mandap in front of the temple and had front Darshan, though from a little distance. A life-size black Kali idol with long red tongue out is placed here. She has four hands - a "Katara" in upper left hand, a "Mund" in lower left-hand, upper right hand in "Abhay Mudra" and lower right hand in "Vardan Mudra". The "Kali roop" here is known as "Bhavatarini" - The Goddess who saves Her devotes from this world of mortals. She is standing on the chest Shiva who is lying down on the ground facing the sky. The idol and the main temple faces South.

View of Dakshineshwar Kali Temple Complex from North

The name of this temple is associated with great Kali Devotee Ramkrishna Parmhans about whom it is famous that the Goddess had herself given Darshan and Ashish. He had spent a long time of his life here. The temple was built in the year 1855 by Rani Rasamani (रानी रसमणि) who was a devotee of Kali and a donator for good causes. It is said that she built this temple after the Goddess came in her dream and ordered her to do so, the Goddess also said that if Rani did so SHE would herself reside in the diety.

Devotees offer flowers, bangles and "Aalta" to the Goddess. The Hibiscus flower is a favorite of Goddess. We saw a pile of these offerings removed from the temple and stacked near the platform. After the Darshan/Pujan of Kali Mata, we went to worship Parameshwar Shiva. Twelve Shiva Temples in a row along the western end of the courtyard is built. These all are connected and these twelve Shivalinga represent the twelve Jyotirlinga as described in Shivapurana. The name and place of these Jyotirlingas are expressed in Sanskrit as follows,

AA vFk }kn”kT;ksfrfyZaxkfu dF;UrsAA

Jh x.ks”kk; ue%AA

lkSjk’Vªs lkseukFka p Jh”kSys efYydktZque~ A

mTtf;U;ka egkdkyeksadkjeeys”oje~AA1AA

ijY;ka oS|ukFka p MkfdU;ka Hkhe”kadje~ A

lsrqcU/ks rq jkes”kaa ukxs”kaa nk#dkous AA2AA

okjk.kL;ka rq fo”os”ka «;Ecda xkSrehrVs A

fgeky;s rq dsnkja ?kq”es”ka p f”koky;sAA3AA

,rkfu T;ksfrfyZaxkfu lk;a izkr% iBsuj% A

lIrtUeÑra ikia Lej.ksu fou”;fr AA4AA

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On the other side of these Jyotirlingas temples, that is outside the courtyard is the "Bathing Ghat" of the Hoogly River. From here the Vivekanand Setu can be seen.

After the worship of Shiva and Shakti (Kali), we saw a temple on the North East side of the courtyard. There were idols of Radha and Krishna on a silver throne (सिंहासन). We had Darshan there too. When all Darshans complete, we saw the items sold by the temple's shop below the 12-Shiva temples in the courtyard. And then sat near the steps there (It is said that after the worship a devotee should sit in the premises of the temple) and consumed prasad.

Goddess Kali on a 'Soop'

We came out of the temple and went to the flower shop where we had kept our Mobiles (Mobiles and cameras are not allowed inside the temple complex). Collected them and paid their bill. On the east of this shop building is the internal road, beyond which there is a market building. A number of shops sell here different types of items which are mostly Puja related. But we were first looking for the hotels that sold food because we had not taken anything from the morning due to worship and it was afternoon. On the east of the market building, we saw many Dhaba type shops that were selling rice and Paranthas. We hungry people ate there and then roamed in the market and took pictures nearby. A unique item that we saw here was the face of Goddess Kali placed in a small Soop (सूप - An article hand-woven with bamboo strips which is used in villages to separate cereals from its husk)

OK! Now our next visit was planned for the famous Belur Math which is on the other side of the Hooghly river i.e. on the western side and downstream. For it, we had to take the ferry at the ferry Ghat which is just south of the temple, so we walked up to there to take the ferry.

Journey to the Belur Muth in the next blog, soon.

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