My Journey to Religious Places: Kali Temple at Kalighat, Kolkata !

Entrance Gate (Dwar) of Approach Road to Kalighat Temple

The Kali temple of Kalighat, Kolkata is one of the famous temples in the eastern region of India. Though the Kali temple is much older, its present structure is more than 200 years old only. The importance of this temple is due to the fact that it is one of the 51 Shaktipeeths in India. It is said that the Goddess Sati's toe of right foot fell here.

The entrance of
Kalighat Temple Campus

It is situated on the banks of old course of the Hooghly River. Later the river changed its course to present one. Old course is now very thin and like a canal. Due to this Kali temple, the ghat of the river and this area became popular as Kalighat. It is one of the oldest areas of Kolkata and heavily populated. The temple is about 400 m from the main road i.e. Chourangi Road. A big Dwar is made at the entrance of this approach road. Driving through it was very difficult because on both sides of this road vendors were selling their goods and they encroached the road to make it congested. Thousands of devotees visit here daily and they are a good source of income to the vendors and people in this locality. When we reached near the temple many people came to us asking for quick darshan. These people have a team in which the shopkeeper and local pandas are included. They will say that general darshan will take more than two hours time and they can arrange it for you without standing in a queue. In fact, they get an opportunity whenever the police are busy in the arrangement of the crowd and get their devotees get direct entry near the Garbh Gruh.

Main Temple view of Kalighat Temple, Kolkata

The temple is built in the Bengal style. Heavy rush of devotees fills the campus and halls in front of the Garbha Gruh. When inside the Garbh Gruh one may note that the Goddess idol is placed at somewhat down level. The striking feature of the idol is that the tongue of Kali is larger in proportion to the face. Devotees main attention is concentrated towards this tongue and its Darshan is said to be lucky. After the Darshan, the Pandas with you may take you near some pillar of the hall where they will chant some mantras and ask you for a donation for different purposes. Their demand may be around some thousand rupees. Eventually, they will settle for less. It is better to say goodbye to them as soon as possible.

Souvenir Shop,
Kalighat Temple

Since the worship of Goddess is complete with the worship of Shiva, there is also a Shivalaya in the Campus. After the worship, earthen Diyas are lighted as Aarti and kept at a place in the campus.

Flower Shop in
Kalighat Temple

Due to the crowded surroundings taxi was not available near the temple and we had to walk the way to the main road. Many flower shops and souvenir shops were located on this road. In one of such shops, they were selling items like conch shells, Shankha, Rudraksha, Shivalinga, Pictures of Gods and Goddesses, Malas etc.
People have much faith in Goddess Kali and this Shaktipeeth is famous in this region.

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