All about Dakshineswar Kali Temple.

The temple is located on the eastern bank of the River Hooghly.

How to reach?

Dakshineswar is a railway station on the Sealdah-Dankuni line and is around 14 km from Sealdah.

The legend

A night before Rani Rasmani was to embark on a voyage to Kashi, Kali appeared in her dream and advised her not to undertake the boat ride. Instead the goddess told her to construct and consecrate a temple in her town. That's how the construction began.

As Rasmani was from a lower caste, no Brahmin priest wished to officiate. That is when Ramakrishna Paramhans, the guru of Swami Vivekananda, took the mantle.

Dakshineswar Temple in West Bengal is considered a representative of the sophistication that an amalgam of the Bangla and the North Indian styles brought to Indian architecture. Besides the fabled story behind its construction, this temple on the banks of Hooghly has been the focal point of India's spiritual revivalism. 

1847 - '55

Construction.

Presiding deity

Bhhavatarini, a form of Parashakti Adya Kali, standing on the chest of a supine Shiva.

Architectural style

Composite type of architecture called Ratna, where elements of the Bangla and the Sikhara (North Indian Spire) styles are combined.

Introduction to design

* A gabled roof with an eight-sided pyramid structured roof is called "aath chala" or eight-faced roof, which resembles a dome. Dakshineswar temple is aath chala.

* Due to a lack of suitable stones in this alluvial delta, architects resorted to engineering other materials, giving rise to the use of burnt bricks and terracotta for temple construction.

* Almost every square inch of the temple is carved in intricate details with terracotta. This ornamentation is composed of rows of burnt-brick panels, each with a figure or geometric patterns.

Bengal temples are classified on Ratna basis

Based on the number of spires, temples were named as Pancharatna (five spires), Navaratna (nine spires) or Satero ratna (seventeen spires).

* 14 square metre area of temple

* 9 spires on temple top, hence the name Navaratna

* 1 spire equates to one Ratna

* 3 storeys to the south-facing temple

* 2 idols in garbha griha (sanctum sanctorum) of goddess Kali and Shiva.

* 1K petallotus throne made of silver to place the idols.

* 12 identical east-facing Shiva temples on either side of the ghat.

Nahabat, the chamber in the northwestern corner just beyond the last of the Shiva temples, is where Ramakrishna and wife, Maa Sarada spent a considerable part of their lives.

My take.

An imposing temple. It's a very popular shrine too!

Tailpiece.

Got up around 6, the chores and was ready by a quarter to 10.

Participated in the Aazhchakkoottam : "School-going children's education, post-Covid" by Shri Jeevan Babu, IAS, Director of General Education, Govt of Kerala from 1630 - 1730 hrs. Very educative!