Dakshineswar Kali Temple

Deity

Bhavatarini Kali, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s Devi, on the Hooghly

Where

Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal · 22.66N 88.36E

Usual hours

6 am – 12.30 pm, 3 pm – 8.30 pm — hours change with festivals and the season; check before travelling. Were these right when you went?

Grahas

Rahu Chandran

Visited for

Rani Rashmoni’s temple, where Sri Ramakrishna served as priest. Kali Puja and Snan Yatra are its days.

The temple’s own account has it that Rani Rashmoni, about to set out by boat on pilgrimage to Kashi, was told by the Devi in a dream not to go, but to build a temple on the bank of the Ganga and worship her there instead.

She is said to have turned the boats back and bought the land the same year. Whether or not the dream is taken literally, the temple was certainly built in place of that pilgrimage.

Dakshineswar was built in 1855 by Rani Rashmoni, a widow of a landed Kaivarta family, at a time when a temple founded by someone outside the brahmin castes was itself contested.

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa served as priest here for most of his adult life, and the room he lived in is kept as it was. Sarada Devi lived in the Nahabat in the same compound. Much of what is known about both of them was written down by people who came to this temple, so the history is unusually well attested.

The main temple is a nine-spired building raised on a high plinth, with the Devi standing on Sivan in the sanctum.

Twelve identical Siva temples stand in a row along the river ghat, which is the view of the place everyone recognises.

Ramakrishna’s room, the Radha-Krishna temple and the Panchavati grove where he sat are all in the compound. Belur Math is directly across the Hooghly and is reached by ferry.

Kali Puja and Durga Puja are the great days, and Snan Yatra fills the ghat.

Ramakrishna’s birthday in Phalguna brings a very large crowd, and Tuesdays and Saturdays are the weekly days.

Also called

Dakshineswar Kali Mandir, Bhavatarini Temple

Period

Built in 1855 by Rani Rashmoni

Reaching it

Dakshineswar is on the east bank of the Hooghly north of Kolkata, with its own metro station and a suburban railway halt. The ferry to Belur Math runs from the ghat beside the temple.

• Sri Ramakrishna Temple, Belur Math 3.3 km · Other
• Kalighat Kali Temple 15.7 km · Sakta (Amman)
• Taraknath Temple, Tarakeswar 43.2 km · Saiva
• Kankalitala Shakti Peetha 133.8 km · Sakta (Amman)
• Bakreshwar Temple and hot springs 168.6 km · Saiva
• Tarapith Tara Maa Temple 171.1 km · Sakta (Amman)

Been to this temple? The things that change — whether the hours on this page were right, whether the sannidhi was open, how long the queue was on a Saturday — are exactly what no printed source keeps current, and what the next person travelling here needs.

• Were the hours right when you went?
• Is anything on this page wrong or out of date?
• A photograph of the gopuram, the tank, or the notice board

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