Dakshineswar Kali Temple

Dakshineswar Kali Temple is a famous Hindu temple located in Dakshineswar locality of Kolkata, West Bengal. Situated on the eastern bank of Hooghly River, it is one of the largest temples in Kolkata and among the must include places in Kolkata Tour Packages.

Dedicated goddess Kali, the temple was built in 1855 CE by Rani Rashmoni, a Philanthropist and a devotee of Kali. According to history, Dakshineswar was a mere village nestled along the eastern bank of the River Ganges in the early phase of the 1800s. It is said that Rani Rashmoni of Janbazar, while on her pilgrimage to Varanasi, had a dream, where she was instructed to build a Kali temple. She was intensely moved by the dream and to materialize it, she instructed her people to search for suitable plots to erect the Kali Temple. After a long hunt for land, eventually, a 20-acre plot was selected in the village of Dakshineswar. The construction of Dakshineswar temple was initiated in 1847 and it was completed in 1855. The temple is famous for its association with Ramakrishna Paramhansa, a mystic of 19th century Bengal.

Covering over an area of 25 acres of land, Dakshineswar temple was built in the traditional 'Nava-Ratna' or nine spires style of Bengal architecture. The three-storeyed south-facing temple has nine spires distributed in the upper two storeys and stands on a high platform with a flight of stairs. The sanctum sanctorum of the temple houses an idol of goddess Kali, famously known as Bhavatarini, standing on the chest of Lord Shiva, who rests in a lying posture. The two idols are placed beautifully on a thousand-petaled lotus made of silver. A huge spacious Natmandir (Dancing hall) has been erected in front of the temple.

Close to the main temple are twelve shrines dedicated to Shiva along the riverfront, a temple to Radha-Krishna, a bathing ghat on the river, a shrine dedicated to Rani Rashmoni. 'Nahabat', the chamber in the northwestern corner just beyond the last of the Shiva temples, is where Ramakrishna spent a considerable part of his life. Dakshineswar Kali Temple is the center of attraction during the Kali Puja. The temple is decorated beautifully with flowers and amazing lighting arrangement. Besides, the temple allures a large number of devotees on Amavasya. Tuesdays and Saturdays have believed to be the auspicious days for Kali worship and the Sandhya Aarti is the prime attraction, which is truly amazing.

History of Dakshineswar Kali Temple
In the early 1800s, Dakshineshwar was a small village surrounded by dense forest around the area where the present temple is situated. The magnificent temple of Dakshineshwar was built by Rani Rashmoni, a philanthropist and a devout believer of Goddess Kali. Legend has it that Rani Rashmoni wanted to go on a pilgrimage to Varanasi to offer prayers to the mother Goddess. The night before she was scheduled to leave for Varanasi, she dreamt about the Goddess asking her to build a temple near Ganges and set up a statue rather than going all the way to Varanasi.
Rani immediately started making arrangements to build a temple. After looking up several plots of land to construct the temple, she zeroed down on the 20-acre land by the eastern banks of Ganges, part of which had a Muslim burial ground that also resembled a tortoise hump, which was considered absolute apt for worshiping Shakti according to Tantra traditions.

Another part of the land belonged to a European named John Hasty and this part of the land was popularly known as Saheban Bagicha. With construction of a Hindu temple on a site, parts of which belonged to different faiths, it signifies the unity of all faiths. The huge temple complex was built in a time span of 8 years, between 1845- 1855, at an estimated cost of INR 9 lakhs out of which INR 2 lakhs were spent on the day of inauguration. The idols of the Gods and Goddesses were scheduled for installation on the 31st May 1855, the ‘snana-yatra’ day, an auspicious day for the Hindus. More than one hundred thousand Brahmins were invited from all over the country to grace the festivities and were fed. The temple was formally named Sri Sri Jagadishwari Mahakali temple.

Ramkumar Chattopadhayay, Sri Ramakrishna's elder brother, was appointed as the head priest of the temple. He was assisted by his younger brother, Ramakrishna, who was then known by his name Gadadhar and nephew Hriday. However; Ramkumar passed away a year after the temple was inaugurated thus, all further responsibilities falling on the shoulders of young Ramakrishna along with his wife Sarada Devi. Sarada Devi stayed at south of Nahabat (the music room) on the ground floor, which is now a shrine dedicated to her. Ramakrishna was the major influence behind bringing in immense reputation as well as pilgrims to the temple during the next thirty years of his service towards the divine mother Goddess. He became an ardent seeker of Kali and also brought in quite a few changes in the socio-religious condition of Bengal.

Rani Rashmoni, who was an exceptionally broad minded and benevolent, had always wanted the temple be open to people from all sects of the society irrespective of their caste, creed or religion. This tradition has been followed till date and the temple is thronged by pilgrims from all strata of the society. Rani Rashmoni didn’t live long enough to witness much of the temple’s glory as she passed away in February 1861, just 5 years and nine months post inauguration of the temple. Realizing that she wasn’t going to live for long, she handed over a property at Dinajpur (part of present-day Bangladesh) as a part of the legacy for maintenance of the temple and temple trust. Rani passed away on 18th February, 1861, the day after she handed over the legal documents.