Kalighat Temple In Kolkata

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Kalighat Temple in Kolkata is one of the 52 Shakti Peethas in India. Located in the city of Kolkata, the Kalighat is an important religious place for all Hindus across the world. The temple is visited by devotees ranging from high profile business tycoons to common men to get blessings of the deity. The temple is about 200 years old and its construction and development is initiated by the famous Sabarna Roy Chowdhury family in Bengal. References of the 'peetha' are present in very old texts like the Mansar Bhasan composed during the 15th century and Kavi Kankan Chandi of the 17th century.

Like all religious places in India, Kalighat Temple in Kolkata in Kolkata has also an interesting historical legend. The highly fearful figure of the goddess, who is the symbol of Shakti and destroyer of the evil, is widely worshipped in all over India and particularly in Bengal. Legends say that at the time of the furious Tandav dance of Lord Shiva on hearing the death of his beloved wife Sati, Lord Vishnu saved the world from getting destroyed by the help of his sudarsan chakra which sliced the body of sati into small pieces. The pieces fell in different parts in India and wherever they fell the place became the epitome of divine power.

It is believed that the little finger of the Sati fell in the place where the present kali temple stands. A devotee named Attaram once got the vision of a translucent beam of light coming out from the river Ganges. Guided by a divine power he went to the river and found the stone idol of the deity that was submerged in the water.

Devotees across India visit this holy place and perform prayers for well being. The place is also famous for the 'trantra' form of worship. In the temple premise, amidst of hoards of devotees and touting Pandas or the pujaris, one will get the essence of militant form of Hinduism or the 'tantrasadhana'.

The holy place not only attracts Hindus from all over India, but also foreign tourists across the globe. Located in one of the most congested destinations of the city, the Kali Temple can be easily be communicated by a well developed public transport of urban Kolkata that includes numerous busses, the historic tramcars, metered yellow taxis, and the underground metro railways. The nearest metro station is the Kalighat metro station.

The best time to visit the temple is during the festivals like Ram Navami, Akshaya Tritya, and Poila Boishakh or Bengalee's New Year Day. The temple is open for worship from 8 am to 9pm and the preferred timings are either very early in the morning or during the afternoon between 3pm to 5 pm as generally the volume of crowd visiting the temple are quite less at that time.