Kalighat Kali Temple

Deity

Kali of Kalighat, a Shakti Peetha with the three-eyed stone face

Where

Kolkata, West Bengal · 22.52N 88.34E

Usual hours

5 am – 2 pm, 5 pm – 10.30 pm — hours change with festivals and the season; check before travelling. Were these right when you went?

Grahas

Rahu Sani

Visited for

The Shakti Peetha that gave Kolkata its name. Kali Puja on the Deepavali amavasai and Tuesdays and Saturdays are its days.

Kalighat is counted among the Shakti Peethas, and the toes of Sati’s right foot are said to have fallen at this place.

The name of the city is usually said to come from Kalighat, though other derivations are offered and the question is not settled. The Adi Ganga, the old channel of the river that runs beside the temple, is the ghat the name refers to.

The temple standing today was built in the early nineteenth century, though worship on the site is much older. Animal sacrifice is performed here.

It is one of the busiest temples in Kolkata and the lanes around it are given over entirely to the flower, sweet and offering trade.

The building is in the Bengali chala style, with a curved roof, rather than in any of the temple idioms a southern visitor will recognise.

The image is unlike most Kali images: a black stone face with three large eyes, a long gold tongue and arms of silver. It is seen briefly and at close quarters.

The Nakuleshwar Siva temple is in the same compound, and the sacrificial altar stands in the courtyard. The Adi Ganga runs behind, narrow and built over.

Kali Puja on the Deepavali amavasya is the great night, and the temple stays open through it.

Durga Puja, Poila Boishakh and the Tuesdays and Saturdays of every week are the other busy days.

Also called

Kalighat Kali Mandir, Kalikshetra

Period

The present temple was built in the early nineteenth century

Reaching it

The temple is in south Kolkata, a few minutes’ walk from Kalighat metro station. Sealdah is about 7 km away.

• Sri Ramakrishna Temple, Belur Math 12.4 km · Other
• Dakshineswar Kali Temple 15.7 km · Sakta (Amman)
• Taraknath Temple, Tarakeswar 52.6 km · Saiva
• Kankalitala Shakti Peetha 146.7 km · Sakta (Amman)
• Bakreshwar Temple and hot springs 180.3 km · Saiva
• Tarapith Tara Maa Temple 185.2 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

A contribution carries a name, so a reader knows whose account it came from. That is why it needs an account, and it is the only reason.

Sign in and add yours